Euro RX list for Riga reveals 30 RX1 entries

In a time where the FIA rallycross ladder was suffering and national championships are suffering with lack of entries in their supercar grids, what was announced today was a ray of hope for the discipline and the spec, with a total of 30 supercars confirmed for the FIA European Rallycross Championship opener at Riga, in Latvia, featuring famous names, rising talent and aspiring newcomers in the international scenario.
 
Around two thirds of the grid had their announcements publicly made, with other making sparse announcements here and there or not confirming entirely their plans. Even if some of the entries are only part of partial programs, the squads went all out with their preparations, even going as far as electing to forgo their national championships to be in Euro RX, while some names return to top level rallycross.
 
Out of those with double programs, special attention goes to the recently announced one-off from Kristoffersson Motorsport, as the World RX top team appears with the usual duo of Johan Kristoffersson and Ole Christian Veiby, as they face off squads like SET Promotion, which returns with the promising Finns Juha Rytkönen and Joni Turpeinen, Kárai Motorsport Sportegyesület repeating the dose with Tamás Kárai and Zoltán Koncseg in their Audis, while fellow Hungarian team Nyirád Motorsport KFT has separate cars for Attila Mózer and Mark Mózer, as Mark decided to drop one of the Ford Fiestas of the team in favor of a Renault Megane R.S. RX.
 
Team RX Racing left the 5 Nations British RX behind to put the O’Donovans in full power in Euro RX, with both Patrick and Ollie driving Peugeot 208 WRXs, meaning no more Proton Iriz RX for Ollie, while Münnich Motorsport was preparing a pair of new SEAT Ibiza RXs during the winter, with René Münnich and Mandie August set to come back to action.
 
Between the single car programs and independent entries, there’s even more to look around. Pailler Competition also changed cars from last year, with Fabien Pailler moving to a Renault Megane R.S. RX too, joining rising Hungarian star Andor Trepák in the Renault fleet. Anton Seppä, who left a good impression at KymiRing last year, brings an improved Skoda Fabia RX while Paulius Pleskovas stays with the ex-ESMotorsport Fabia RX Evo.
 
Outside the Karái Motorsport program, Nils Volland and Damian Litwinowicz keep the Audi S1 RXs running, with both having a firm frontrunner status in their backs. Ulrik Linnemann is also a hot contender if no bad luck strikes his camp, and from RallyX, Martin Enlund, Maiko Tamm and Casper Jansson add the Euro RX schedule in full after some samples last season. Same goes for José Oliveira, but he will do a dual program like Jansson, although with the Portuguese championship being the alternative.
 
Two names in special remind of the good days of the World RX, but they will be at Riga as one-off entries. Janis Baumanis jumps into his Peugeot 208 WRX again as he helps promoting the event from inside the cockpit, with no plans for the rest of the season thanks to outside commitments. The other name in question is Rokas Baciuska, who is remembered as an incredibly promising talent from the GCK squad, but once the team departed the World RX, he left it too and changed his focus in career to rally raid, being currently a Defender factory driver, but on the last minute, he confirmed a Riga-only appearance in a PGRX Hyundai i20 RX, which will also appear in the Portuguese RX championship round at Montalegre, probably as competitive preparation since Baciuska is out of competitive rallycross since 2020.
 
The Riga RX will be held on 10 May.

 
IMAGES: Automax Motorsport, FIA Rallycross Championships