2024 World Rallycross

[MotorsportMentalist]

Originally Posted by steve_r

Any news on any new cars to swell the sparse grid? And dare I mention, perhaps some non-Scandinavian drivers, so that people actually look at this like a world series?

Nothing yet, one thing I thought was that ESmotorsport’s efforts don’t go to waste. I don’t know how finalised the calendar is either, as some locations haven’t been disclosed officially, although other than Australia you can roughly pinpoint where they’ll be.

Going to FIRE’s point, I’d like the world idea succeed, but I was astonished that the series even went ahead this year at all, let alone the fact that they’re planning another season. What I always seem to forget is that most of World RX’s consistent locations are in Europe. They could probably get away with still going to Istanbul and Killarney under a European title as they’re not too far away for teams to travel. It would be a shame for Trois-Rivières, but they haven’t been there for years.

[NaBUru38]

How about this:

• A European Championship, with 7-8 rounds from April to September.
• A World Tour, with 3 rounds from October to December.

[MotorsportMentalist]

Originally Posted by NaBUru38

How about this:

• A European Championship, with 7-8 rounds from April to September.
• A World Tour, with 3 rounds from October to December.

Interesting idea, kind of reminds me on how the Euro RX participants used to run in the same heats as the World RX, but the European competitors would score in their own championship.

[flatlandsman]

Let's be frank here, this is a series that is struggling to see its future.

They are so desperate they are going to places like Coventry instead of proper tracks, the driver base is very very thin, and were it not for the support series like ERX and a few others the entire thing would have fallen away.

[tbtstt]

Originally Posted by MotorsportMentalist

The Australian round was dropped for China, which in turn has been dropped for a return to Istanbul.

I haven't seen it verified from any other sources, but there was a link doing the rounds on Facebook suggesting that Istanbul Park has some sort of financial issue(s)? For the sake of the Championship I hope that is wrong, as another venue/country shift this late in the year could be tricky?

Just seen that Patrick O'Donovan is entering the final World RX round (in his Peugeot 208) so at least that is one more car on the grid.

[flatlandsman]

Last I heard Istanbul was being used as a car park for some reason.

It has not been used as a race track for a very long time and I think a lot of this is trying to use events to generate income to force it to open. Very odd, probably linked to a no fee clause if the event does not happen.

[MotorsportMentalist]

Thanks for the updates, I didn’t know that the second replacement might be under threat too. If the track is already being used as a car park, they might not be using the rallycross track at present, hence the idea of racing there. Fingers crossed it goes ahead, so we can have some closure at the end of the season (and to see how O’Donovan gets on against the World RX grid).

[flatlandsman]

There was a track already there, but it did not last more than maybe 1 or 2 seasons, no crowd at all obviously, it was in the early days of WRX when IMG were moving away from established venues in the search for money and towards tracks prepared to pay significant sums to host events.

I heard a rumour that back then if places like Maasmecehlen and Valkenswaard held WRX events and paid the hosting fees they would have to have doubled ticket prices to make enough money to break even and this was very early WRX days, hence the promoters went to places that had Gov funding to host events, basically a decision based on money, not sport

[tbtstt]

Originally Posted by MotorsportMentalist

Thanks for the updates, I didn’t know that the second replacement might be under threat too.

I am trying to find the link I saw the other day and can't see it anywhere now. I am always interested to read rallycross information/stories/gossip that people share on Facebook and the like, but I take it with a pinch of salt until I see it reported from a more reliable sources!

[tbtstt]

Just seen the entry list for Istanbul. No Munnich or Pelfrane, but PGRX joining the grid with two of their i20's (presumably the ex-GRX cars), with Bossard and Rytkonen driving.

Arguably the best of the ex-Works Supercars in use at the moment, plus Patrick in the Team RX Racing 208. Very interested to see how close the pace of those cars/drivers is to the quickest of the World field.

[MotorsportMentalist]

Kristofferson crowned as the World Champion for the seventh time after Heat 2. I know we all saw this one coming, but if he wasn’t already, he has to be a rallycross immortal now.

[flatlandsman]

In some ways, yes, in others ways no, for I think most would agree even at VW he had a car advantage, did Kenny or Martin have one in their day against every other car?, and certainly in recent years he has been driving against largely nobodies, (I class the Hansens in that category sorry)

[MotorsportMentalist]

Originally Posted by flatlandsman

In some ways, yes, in others ways no, for I think most would agree even at VW he had a car advantage, did Kenny or Martin have one in their day against every other car?, and certainly in recent years he has been driving against largely nobodies, (I class the Hansens in that category sorry)

I don’t think you’re wrong, but he was relatively quick in the years just before 2017, his one off appearance in 2013 and the 2015 season come to mind. I know that they’ve also not been as quick in recent years, but I still think both the Hansens and Gronholm are relatively capable drivers too.

[flatlandsman]

It depends what yu put people up against. I am not saying his achievements are not worthy or less meritorious, but in some of those years he has had no real competition, he is cleanly the best driver of his generation and you could see that when he was running his own car against the factory VW's years back.

But that works car is and was clearly a step ahead of everything, saying that, Petter was not dominant in it, and that is a very good yardstick, but it was also clear Petter was suffering from health issues for some of his latter rallycross career.

I have been luck enough to see some very good rallycross drivers in my time and I would put Jphan in that group, but better than Kenneth, Matti, Martin? Even Will, beating them all with a tiny budget years ago. Sorry he is an equal not better

[MotorsportMentalist]

Juha Rytkönen took a surprise but presumably popular win in the final round of the year. Fair play to him, I didn’t see much of this weekend’s action but if you asked me to put money on any of the combustion drivers I would say O’Donovan would be the man.

All in all, 2024 was a short, decent if unremarkable nor particularly successful year for the series. It could’ve been solid, especially considering the move to allow both the electric and petrol cars to compete together, but it didn’t seem to really gain the eyes of many teams or drivers, who kept to the Euro RX series, RallyX Nordic or various national championships. Rallycross in general is in a strange position, as both Nitrocross and Extreme E don’t seem to be in great places either, but those previously mentioned national series and Euro RX are still quite healthy (though as many have discussed, this situation has been on the horizon for a long time).

As for the future, World RX seems to be using 2025 as an experimental year, holding their first ice race in a return to Canada, racing at the new Kymiring in a return to Finland, as well as a return to the UK with a new street circuit in Coventry. They’re also pushing to get the Australian meeting off the ground too. However, Lousada in Portugal will return to the top of the Rallycross pyramid for the first time since 2008, and Nyirád, Holjes and Istanbul are all set to remain on the calendar.

[tbtstt]

Originally Posted by MotorsportMentalist

Juha Rytkönen took a surprise but presumably popular win in the final round of the year. Fair play to him, I didn’t see much of this weekend’s action but if you asked me to put money on any of the combustion drivers I would say O’Donovan would be the man.

I was in Essay last month for the penultimate round of the French Championship. There is a lot of talent and top machinery in that Championship and the PGRX cars were in the mix throughout Saturday, though it was tough to pick a clear winner.

It was damp on Sunday morning and Rytkönen immediately looked the favourite. Bossard is no slouch, but if he hadn't had a tricky start to the season I think Juha would have been French Champion this year.

I was a bit embarrassed for PGRX at the start of this weekend as they are an experienced team with top cars (arguably the best ex-World RX cars available) and great drivers, but they seemed to be spending most of their time on track tangling with each other instead of racing. Glad it came good for them yesterday. Very curious to know how hard Kristoffersson was trying in the final, or if he was hanging back waiting to see if he could lend a hand to Veiby.

Disappointed that Patrick wasn't a bit more of a threat. I saw he commented on Saturday night about going the wrong way with the car setup and I guess this problem continued on Sunday as his car looked rather wayward at times.

[tbtstt]

Forgive the double post, wanted to reply to this...

Originally Posted by MotorsportMentalist

Kristofferson crowned as the World Champion for the seventh time after Heat 2. I know we all saw this one coming, but if he wasn’t already, he has to be a rallycross immortal now.

...in a separate post, instead of having a wall of text in one!

For me Kristoffersson is unquestionably the great of the modern rallycross era, but when you look at his success in other series as well I personally think you have to consider him as one of the best racing drivers of the current age.

I know there is the argument that he always had the best car and, although I agree there are times when that has been true, there are plenty when I don't think it has. Certainly the first year of the VW Motorsport Polo (2017), once they had ironed the creases out, that car looked the best. However he had already taken wins prior to that point.

I personally thought that the Peugeot Sport/Hansen 208 and Audi Sport/EKS S1 both closed the gap for 2018 but, despite that, JK took the title with a record breaking number of wins. Purely looking at the numbers it looked like domination but when you look at how he took those event wins it wasn't always from the front. Loheac 2018 is etched into my mind; sublime driving from JK (and a dash of poor decision making from EKS) makes that one of my all time favourite rallycross finals. It was the 2018 season that cemented me as a JK fan.

Say the VW Motorsport Polo was so great that it made 2017, 2018 and perhaps even the 2020 titles "easy" wins though. But he did it again in a rivals car in 2021, twice more with a common drivetrain in 22/23 and again this year. OK, I will concede that I do think KMS have the best overall car this year, but he has frequently found himself in traffic due to the slower launches this year and he always managed to work his way back to the front.

Look at the other rallycross stuff Johan has done as well. Driving spec cars or older Supercars and still scoring wins (and taking titles).

Originally Posted by flatlandsman

I have been luck enough to see some very good rallycross drivers in my time and I would put Jphan in that group, but better than Kenneth, Matti, Martin? Even Will, beating them all with a tiny budget years ago. Sorry he is an equal not better

All of the above said though - and this applies to many other motorsport disciplines as well - I do think it is very hard (and possibly unfair) to make direct comparisons between drivers of different eras.

[flatlandsman]

The only thing you can level at him is that unquestionably during the time VW were funding it it was a step ahead of everything, when they quit is probably was developed by them but not VW, much like a Hanesn car would be or an Ekstrom car.

You are right about his stuff in other cars though, something others do not t=do too much.