More Rallycross as GRC and RCE kick off

More Rallycross as GRC and RCE kick off
by Martijn Kösters
All be it late in April, the Global Rallycross Championship and the Rallycross Challenge Europe have yet to start their seasons. The GRC gets underway in Brazil at Foz de Iguacu as part of its partnership with the X Games and the RCE starts of the season in Melk, Austria.

The Global Rallycross Championship has seen an interesting development over the winter, from a NASCAR support event with one round at the LA X Games to a full Global partnership with the X Games which takes them to Los Angeles, Foz de Iguacu in Brazil, Barcelona and Munich as well as events we saw last year in New Hampshire, Bristol, Atlanta and Charlotte Motor Speedway.

The driver line-up has stepped up its game too. We have seen Tanner Foust, Liam Doran, Brian Deegan, Travis Pastrana, Toomas Heikkinen and Ken Block enter events last year and for this weekend they are joined by drivers such as Anton Marklund who we've seen in last year's European Rallycross Championship, Rally driver Patrik Sandell and NASCAR drivers Buddy Rice and Nelson Piquet Jr. who will make their debut on gravel.

The track itself (picture), unlike circuits seen in Europe or previously seen in the GRC is a full gravel course. The surroundings have a real 'Rumble in the jungle' feel to it. Viewers in the US have the opportunity to tune in to ESPN to follow the action live, where as Rallycross followers elsewhere will have to wait for any action to emerge on youtube. But hey we'll keep you updated.

After a few confusing name changes and a media silence following that the second European Rallycross series, the Rallycross Challenge Europe gets underway. The series markets itself as a spectator oriented championship with friendly entry prices, familiar rules and regulations and a family-like atmosphere. Events for the coming year are scheduled for Austria this weekend, two events for France in Essay and Cohiniac, two events in the Lowlands at the classic circuits of Maasmechelen and Valkenswaard. Season finale is planned at Sosnova in the Czech Republic.

With most big names in Rallycross already comitted to the RallycrossRX Championship another big question surrounded who would actually be driving in the series. Drivers were announced over the past few weeks and mostly consist of Central European drivers, with no Scandinavian entries opposed to what we've seen in the ERC traditionally.

In the Supercar category, which is no different from the Supercars you see in other series, we see drivers who had some outings in last year's European Rallycross Championship. Amongst them Kevin Procter (10^th in 2012 and winner of the French round), Jos Kuijpers (11^th in 2012), Pavel Koutny (15^th). Furthermore Jurgen Weiss who came in 9^th in the Austrian round of the ERC who is joined in Supercars by Robert Theuil, Marcel Ottink, Bernd Wilhelm and Otakar Vyborny.

Super 1600 will be headlined by ERC-regulars Vaclav Veverka and Pavel Vimmer driving their Peugeot 206 and Skoda Fabia. They will be joined by national drivers such as Sven Seeliger and Manfred Beck from Germany and Dave van Beers from Belgium. Eric Guillemette and Dorian Launay represent France with Werner Panhauser (A) and Robert Czarnecki (Pol) completing the S1600 grid.

The Touringcar field is a full Belgian-Dutch affair, with Nick Snoeys, Ivo van den Brandt and Mandy Kasse being the most well known drivers. Finishing 15^th, 16^th and 17^th in last year's ERC, Snoeys finished 6^th in the Hungarian round and van den Brandt scoring two 8^th places in Austrian and Hungarian round. Mandy Kasse scored 9^th in France and the Netherlands. Jos Sterkens and Louis de Haas complete the driver's who have been announced so far.

Action gets underway this Saturday afternoon with free practices, Heat one to get underway at 16:00 local. Heat two and three take place from nine and 12:30 on the Sunday. Finals are to start at 14:30 Sunday afternoon. It will be interesting to follow the new championship and hope it catches momentum throughout the year.

European Rallycross: Two halves equals nothing?

European Rallycross: Two halves equals nothing?

by Martijn Kösters

This has been bugging my mind for a while now, actually ever since the split of the European Rallycross Championship (back then the only series to be abbreviated to ERC) into the IMG European Rallycross Championship and The Rallycross Challenge. Why? Because break-ups never work out, and probably never will.

Most recent example comes from The States, Champcar and Indycar split in the 1990s and went there own way for a while. One focusing more on so called 'Road Courses', the other practiced the fine art of going counter-clockwise very fast. Yet in the end, with a little help from the financial crisis, they were forced into eachother's arms again. The United States could not hold up two major open wheel racing categories. If two similar series, in one of the biggest categories of motor racing in one of the biggest consumer markets on the planet is not achievable. Can a much smaller form of motorsport like Rallycross make a split work?

Given, despite the current financial climate the IMG championship can rely on more than decent backing. Its outlook for the coming years looks very good, with more TV coverage, and more revenue for both teams and drivers. IMG seem to have a vantage point on the horizon where they want to take Rallycross to, and so far teams and drivers are more than willing to jump the IMG-train.

In a way, something needed to happen in order to take Rallycross to the next level. Coverage was virtually non-existent except when you were in one of the Scandinavian countries and some successful drivers like Isachsen, Foust and Doran were moving to the US to compete in the Global Rallycross Championship. The GRC might not be what Europeans call Rallycross, if only for the lack of off-road driving. Tracks might have been very basic in their lay-outs as they often used pit-lanes at oval circuits combined with some (very exciting) jumps. Still, GRC did get one thing right, positioning GRC as a dessert after NASCAR-races meant the spectators were already there, and major channels like ESPN were too. It provides prime racing (great driver line-up) on a prime channel (ESPN) on a prime slot (right after NASCAR) in front of a prime audience. For 2013 GRC takes another step by hosting events in line with the X-Games in Brazil, Spain, Germany and the US.

The big question is what the future of European Rallycross will look like. Will both series survive, will only one remain or will the split lead to the complete demise of Rallycross? Virtually it is anybody's guess with no events being run yet and no feedback from drivers or spectators. Yet from what we have seen in the build-up to the 2013 season I'll have to say that the IMG Championship seems to have a very strong package. Not only in terms of resources, but also in terms of FIA backing and a driver line-up which is right up there.

The Rallycross Challenge has been cloaked in silence so far, having only released a calendar which lists planned events. The Challenge is founded on the slogan 'Rallycross the way it is meant to be' and promises accessibility for both drivers and spectators. The focus on old-school rallycross is one that appeals to a general audience, but it may be a dead-end street. In the end the teams need to pay their bills, something IMG promises to do in their Championship. Combined with the more progressive focus of IMG into new markets like Portugal, Hungary and good-old Scandinavia which the Challenge misses out on, IMG provides a commercially more appealing package.

This whole opinion might be redundant as soon when The Rallycross Challenge reveal their plans in detail, but as it stands now the IMG has everything the drivers and teams could like. And although both calendars do not interfere with each other, it seems unlikely that any team can pull off 15 Rallycross events in a year. Drivers and teams who have signed up for the IMG ERC might occasionally join the Rallycross Challenge, but I'm afraid the latter one will boast perhaps a better atmosphere, but a starting grid without any headliners.