2022 FIA World Rallycross Championship

[FIRE]

Don't know their future in WRX but EKS will run Cupra in eTCR.

[tbtstt]

Entry list for the opening Euro round in Hungary now online:

Hungary Euro RX Entry List

22 Supercars (RX1) - 11 permanent entries
13 Super S1600 (RX3) - 3 permanent entries

Was hoping for a few more permanent entries in that number, but some good name and cars in there, so hopefully be some close racing.

[FIRE]

Lot of unknown names for me.

[tbtstt]

New "CE Dealer Team" confirms Niclas Gronholm and Klara Andersson as drivers for 2022.

That article also reaffirms Hansen Motorsport, Volkswagen Dealerteam BAUHAUS, Muennich Motorsport, GCK Motorsport and ESmotorsport as entries for 2022.

[tbtstt]

Hoping it is a technical glitch, but very little Euro RX coverage showing on the RX app for this weekend.

[FIRE]

Originally Posted by tbtstt

Enzo Ide confirms a full Euro (and select RallyX Nordic) campaign:

EKSRX.com - Enzo Ide Commits to 2022 Euro RX

Plus a new livery for his Audi:



Love these 2018+ Audis, really hope this isn't the only one that will be getting some regular use this year.

Interesting (or not) detail, but the article mentions that the car will be "serviced by former FIA World Rallycross Championship winning team EKS".

Off-topic but RallyX is on Youtube **** season.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2o_Cmyv8xm0

[FIRE]

Originally Posted by tbtstt

Hoping it is a technical glitch, but very little Euro RX coverage showing on the RX app for this weekend.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ONa_8RZ89lU
Don't know about the RX app but quality of this video on Youtube...

[tbtstt]

Originally Posted by FIRE

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ONa_8RZ89lU
Don't know about the RX app but quality of this video on Youtube...

The highlight videos on YouTube haven't been great so far, have they?

Live coverage was OK aside from two (fairly major) gripes:

1. No livestream on Saturday.
2. Nick making SO many verbal blunders during the broadcast I contemplated muting the TV.

[SnoodyMcFlude]

So you're paying for coverage and they don't provide a livestream? Honestly I really hope drivers, teams and sponsors get out of these dead duck championships sooner rather than later, would be much better to see that support in Nitro and Nordic instead because WRC Promoter are doing a terrible job of promoting their series'

[Hickey]

Originally Posted by tbtstt

The highlight videos on YouTube haven't been great so far, have they?

Live coverage was OK aside from two (fairly major) gripes:

1. No livestream on Saturday.
2. Nick making SO many verbal blunders during the broadcast I contemplated muting the TV.

Nick is so bad that he makes David Croft sound accomplished. And I detest Crofty.

[tbtstt]

Anyone watch the coverage at the weekend?

Overall I thought it was a pretty positive debut for the RX1e cars. They seemed to be pretty reliable and, although they weren't shattering records from the outset, the pace was almost equal to the RX1 from the start despite the minimal amount of testing.

The electric Supercars are never going to appeal to me as much as the combustion cars, but the racing was pretty close at times. Notable that, in contradiction to the earlier press releases, the RX1e were a little heavier than stated (still much lighter than an FC1-X though).

I actually rather enjoyed the Super Pole session, but the rest of the new format is not winning me over at all. I personally think it was a huge mistake to make such sweeping changes the same year as the electric transition.

Nick really doesn't seem to be improving with his commentary either, hoped he would settle in after the first year, but his commentary is still riddled with errors.

[ArnageWRC]

Originally Posted by SnoodyMcFlude

So you're paying for coverage and they don't provide a livestream? Honestly I really hope drivers, teams and sponsors get out of these dead duck championships sooner rather than later, would be much better to see that support in Nitro and Nordic instead because WRC Promoter are doing a terrible job of promoting their series'

WRC Promoter are an absolute disaster; they don't do enough promoting. It's not a coincidence that WRC, ERC & WorldRX are probably 3 of the weakest series around - and on most motorsport forums get the least amount of comments.

All hidden away.....but they carry on slapping themselves on the back.

[SnoodyMcFlude]

Originally Posted by tbtstt

Anyone watch the coverage at the weekend?

Only thing I've watched is Bakkerud's vlog, but the old man watched the highlights on BT and provided this glowing review:

"Just watched World RX from Hell on BT. Big crowd.

Only 8 electric cars, no Andrew Coley and coverage which resembles a trade powerpoint demonstration at times. Main commentator is crap. Hal has gone all ITV shouty mode. Support races looked good but only about 2 minutes coverage. Commentary - "The first victory in an electric rallycross car in history. First ever in this new era" ???

Generally toot."

[SnoodyMcFlude]

Originally Posted by ArnageWRC

It's not a coincidence that WRC, ERC & WorldRX are probably 3 of the weakest series around - and on most motorsport forums get the least amount of comments.

All hidden away.....but they carry on slapping themselves on the back.

True...although I don't mind the WRC coverage too much, not to the extent that I'd be happy paying but I'm okay with it being available on my BT Sport which comes with my broadband

[MissClarrpz]

I thought the racing and coverage were alright. I liked no joker lap 1. However, the new format is needlessly complicated and boring come the end of the weekend. Only 5 cars in the final is rubbish, just 1-2 drop out and the race is dead. I reckon this format was made to better hide the low entry list, hopefully they go back to the old format next year.

The new cars look good to race with, especially under braking they seem hard to stop which should help with racing. 8 cars does not a championship make though. Needs to be 12 minimum and 16+ ideally.

In Comms I'm now okay with (or used to) Nick. But Hal is having to hold him up the whole weekend which definitely shows

Superpole is a messed up at the moment. If you are fastest in SP you go into the harder heat (against 3rd, 5th, 7th rather than 4th,6th,8th), race on slower track conditions assuming the track evolves between sessions and then even if you win and take fastest lap you start second in Q2. Who designed this and didn't think to check if it is a disadvantage in every single way to go fastest.

Plus RX+ is a joke. Got screwed by them at the beginning of the year and then you aren't able to watch full weekend replays once the next race starts. Only 48 minutes highlights of the weekend which butcher the good support categories coverage. They really love to erase the history of the sport.

[FIRE]

Don't know about performance difference but I prefer the electric RX1 cars over the Nitro cars.

[tbtstt]

Originally Posted by FIRE

Don't know about performance difference but I prefer the electric RX1 cars over the Nitro cars.

Yeah, I am the same. I enjoyed Nitro (and the FC1-X is a great bit of engineering) but, even if the connection to the showroom is tenuous, the cars being based on production chassis feels more like rallycross to me.

Really wish that World RX hadn't introduced the new format this year: I think the electric transition would have felt far less severe if we weren't all trying to get out heads around the new rules as well.

[SnoodyMcFlude]

With so few cars on the grid though I think they had to come up with something. It did seem to work okay, although not that I knew what was going on. Will be interesting to see if they switch up the way the grid is formed so that being first in quali actually has an advantage. One of the things I like about Nitro is they see when things aren't quite working and make a change, down side is that they've had different rules for basically every round, but shows they care about the show.

Agree on the cars, I guess FC1 is built more with the big jumps in mind but I prefer watching cars to buggies

[SnoodyMcFlude]

Nick Fellows consistent with the gaffs, this week referring to a driver keeping the car running...EVs not exactly famed for stalling.

Some racing still seems pretty good if a little elbows out. Coverage still poor, not much about the support categories and commentary still just Nick shouting at me.

[BertMk2]

Originally Posted by SnoodyMcFlude

Nick Fellows consistent with the gaffs, this week referring to a driver keeping the car running...EVs not exactly famed for stalling.

Some racing still seems pretty good if a little elbows out. Coverage still poor, not much about the support categories and commentary still just Nick shouting at me.

I managed to watch some of the coverage this past weekend - commentary wasn't as bad as I'd feared but was certainly littered with errors.

I didn't agree with the penalty for Kristoffersson either - it was a late lunge for sure but Hansen just tried closing the door far too late, by the time Hansen made the move to the right Kristoffersson was already there. Racing incident at most.

The most disappointing thing is simply the number of cars - there just aren't enough of them.

[SnoodyMcFlude]

Yeah didn't really see enough angles of the incident but did seem that Timmy shut the door when JK was pretty much already there...but then I'm biased against the Hansens and was positively cheering when Kevin went out (reap what you sow in my opinion)

[RichP]

From the limited clips I've seen I don't think Johan's move was any harsher than the Hansen's 'tap to pass' moves in the last hairpin throughout the weekend. Timmy's move looked more to try and block than actually turn in for the corner to me.

[tbtstt]

Originally Posted by BertMk2

I managed to watch some of the coverage this past weekend - commentary wasn't as bad as I'd feared but was certainly littered with errors.

I personally think the Euro commentary team have improved (or maybe I have just got used to them!), but Nick is still awful. If it wasn't for Hal I'd be hitting the mute button during the World races, as the constant errors from Nick are irritating.

Originally Posted by BertMk2

I didn't agree with the penalty for Kristoffersson either - it was a late lunge for sure but Hansen just tried closing the door far too late, by the time Hansen made the move to the right Kristoffersson was already there. Racing incident at most.

Yeah, I agree. As I have said on multiple occasions my big issue with penalties is consistency and, given what has been allowed in the past, I didn't think this move was unjust. I wonder if they would have let it go if Timmy hadn't speared off?

Johan clearly had the pace though and, as you say, Timmy closed the door too late.

Originally Posted by BertMk2

The most disappointing thing is simply the number of cars - there just aren't enough of them.

Was hoping that there be might be more noises coming from the GCK camp, but I fear we won't see those cars this season now.

I actually thought the RC1e cars looked good in Montalagre: climbing the curbs and getting as sideways as their petrol counterparts. Hopefully they are as good to watch at Spa this weekend.

[steve_r]

I have seen the highlights of the last couple of rounds.

The good - the cars are fast. The racing is generally close. It's nice that there is a female in there who is getting stuck in and performing well.

The bad - only 8 cars. 1 of which is constantly off the pace. So 7 really. 5 cars get to the final. Apart from the semis, all the build up heats therefore are pretty pointless.

In 2 rounds I think that I have seen 1 genuine overtake that did not happen at turn 1 of lap 1, or during the joker lap.

Commentator is very shouty.

Almost all the drivers are from Scandinavia. I have nothing against that area of the world, but it is supposed to be a world championship, not a Scandinavian championship.

In all, not great. Need more cars.

[ArnageWRC]

Those running the sport need to accept that it simply isn't a global sport, and go from there. Drop the 'World' label and make it a European series....

In fact, most 4 wheeled off-road motorsport simply doesn't pull in lots of manufacturer entries......