The FIA World Rallycross Championship arrived in Höljes, Sweden for round 2 of the 2021 season. Close to the Norwegian border, this iconic 1.9km rallycross track has always attracted huge crowds of Scandinavian motorsport fans earning itself the nickname of “The Magic Weekend”. This year, however, numbers were restricted due to COVID and perhaps this affected the atmosphere also?
Because of this near-legendary status in the world of rallycross, it has always been the event that everybody wanted to win and the possibility of beating the Swedes on their home turf has always been an added attraction for the non-local drivers. But is this still the case given that in 2021 the event had only attracted 10 RX1 drivers?
The opening round of the 2021 FIA World Rallycross Championship was dominated by the Swedes at the Circuit de Barcelona, in Catalunya.
On the opening day reigning World RX Champ Johan Kristoffersson was the fastest man out on track, but he was not the overnight leader. In the first qualifying session of the year, his team KYB EKS JC Raceteknik seemly made a technical error in not connecting the FIA data logger on his Audi S1; this earned the three times World RX Champ disqualification from the session and handed P1 over to Timmy Hansen.
The FIA World Rallycross Championships has returned under its new promoter, Rallycross Promoter GmbH (Red Bull) for the opening round of the 2021 season. A few things have changed since the previous promoter IMG stepped away from the series, some changes of which will divide opinion amongst the fans and some which will have to be given the benefit of doubt.
The entry lists for the 2021 FIA World Rallycross Championship curtain-raiser in Catalunya next month (23/24 July) have today been revealed, with 17-car grids in both World RX and Euro RX3 setting the scene for a sensational weekend’s racing in Spain.
Bearing witness to the series’ enduring and burgeoning international appeal, there are no fewer than 16 nationalities represented across the two lists, as well as nine automotive brands – including giants of the industry such as Ford, Volkswagen and Renault – and 12 different models of car.
