Find our Barcelona Global X Games gallery here.

Find our Essay round Rallycross Challenge Europe gallery here.

Both galleries will be extended over the weekend, so stay tuned.

After attending Round 4 of the FIA World Touring Car Championship (WTCC) at the Hungaroring near Budapest the German ALL-INKL.COM Münnich Motorsport Rallycross squad, represented by René Münnich and his fiancé Mandie August, made also use of the opportunity to test their Škoda Fabia Mk2 Super 1600 Rallycross cars at the Nyirádi Motorsport Centrum, prior to the Hungarian RallycrossRX round on May 25 and 26 at the same venue. “The extensive two days test was quite successful for us. Now we should be competitive in Hungary,” claimed team Principal René Münnich afterwards.

“We primarily sorted out different shock-absorber set-ups, but I’m now also at the point to swap back from the 1400 to the 1600cc motor. During testing we compared both engines and I came to this conclusion. Last year as well as during the season opener at Lydden Hill in England I’ve wrestled a lot with the useable power band of my smaller engine. The sheer power output is nothing to moan about, but for Rallycross I simply need a wider band of torque, rather than a lot of power in high revs, to have sufficient traction all the time. And enough of traction is what we’ve lacked all the time.”

“For to find this out and to become certain of the problems my mechanics made the necessary changes to fit the bigger engine into the Fabia as well as placing the required extra weight at the right places of the chassis. I think we will be more competitive from now on,” resumed the internet entrepreneur from Friedersdorf in Saxony.

<——————————– Photos by © QBA/ERC24 ——————————–>

Last weekend Round 1 of the Swedish Rallycross Championship was held at the Strängnäs Motorstadion, just a few kilometres away from the 13,000 inhabitants’ town of Strängnäs in the province Södermanlands län. With a total of 90 drivers in the four different classes the event was well attended, however the SuperCars category demo race did not count for the SRC and attracted just three competitors. Therefore Rallycross newcomer Johan Kristoffersson had not much opposition to fear and eventually made it to an unchallenged victory.

“I feel that I get into Rallycross more and more, as long as we talk about pure driving. But of course there is a lot of new impressions and things for me that are completely different from circuit racing, such as the starting procedures and the alternative track section for the Joker Lap. However, I felt much quicker comfortable than I had actually expected”, claimed the son of ex-Rallycrosser Tommy Kristoffersson later on. “Okay, there was just a small line-up here, but it was a tough competition nevertheless. Anyway, I was not thinking much about my competitors, but was mainly concentrating on my own driving and trying to improve myself. It is probably one of my greatest assets as a racer, to do just that”, said Johan Kristoffersson.

In SuperNationals it was Volvo station wagon campaigner David Wall who drove his amazing V40 to victory. Wall won the start of the A final and was dog-hounded by Sebastian Eriksson for the first laps. However, after some fighting, changing places and all had done their Joker Laps it was Wall who was back in the lead again to eventually win his class from Jimmy Holmkvist and Ulf Eriksson. Similar situation in SuperNationals 2400 when “Fidde” [aka Fredrik Rosengren] powered his BMW E30 Coupé into the lead, then charged for a while by make-colleague Niclas Norström. After driving his Joker Lap “Fidde” almost lost his first place to Norström, but it was Mercedes driver “Gummse” [aka Lars-Johan Johansson] who took advantage from the argument of the two BMW drivers to eventually grab the second place behind “Fidde”. Among the Juniors there was no-one who could keep up with the speed of Tommy Johansson. The BMW E36 driver run away with a start-to-finish victory, second place went to Pontus Jakobsson while Andreas Persson made it to third.

• FINAL RESULTS SUPERCARS:
• 1. Johan Kristoffersson (S) VW Scirocco Mk3
• 2. Mats Öhman (S) Volvo S40 Mk2
• 3. Tomas Andersson (S) BMW 1 E81
• FINAL RESULTS SUPERNATIONALS:
• 1. Daniel Wall (S) Volvo V40
• 2. Jimmy Holmkvist (S) Volvo S40
• 3. Ulf Eriksson (S) BMW E30 Coupé
• 4. Fredrik Tiger (S) BMW E36 Coupé
• 5. Sebastian Eriksson (S) Volvo S40
• 6. Linus Westman (S), BMW E30 Coupé
• FINAL RESULTS SUPERNATIONALS 2400:
• 1. “Fidde” (S) BMW E30 Coupé
• 2. “Gummse” (S) Mercedes C203
• 3. Mattias Ohlsson (S) BMW E30 Coupé
• 4. Robin Larsson (S) Škoda Fabia Mk1 RWD
• 5. Niclas Norström (S) BMW E36
• 6. Fredrik Larsson (S) Hyundai Accent
• FINAL RESULTS JUNIOR CHAMPIONSHIP:
• 1. Tommy Johansson (S) BMW E36
• 2. Pontus Jakobsson (S) Peugeot 205
• 3. Andreas Persson (S) BMW E36
• 4. Rasmus Carlsson (S) Citroën Saxo
• 5. Marcus Svärd (S) Opel Astra F
• 6. Anton Isaksson (S) BMW E36

<——————————–  Photos by © ADECOM/ERC24  ——————————–>

Loeb will drive a Citroën DS3 SuperCar in the event which forms round seven of the 9-event championship. The 39-year-old, 9-time World Rally Champion has added the RallycrossRX outing to his calendar in a year in which he has embarked on a diverse range of events including rounds of the World Rally Championship, the FIA GT Championship and the Pikes Peak Hill International Climb. The Frenchman has previously driven a Rallycross car in competition only once; using a Citroën DS3 SuperCar to win an X Games gold medal in Los Angeles last July.

“2013 is definitely a year full of challenges. I received an invitation from the [Rallycross Lohéac] organiser Patrick Germain, and I decided to answer positively”, said Loeb. “Apart from the X Games, I have no experience in Rallycross so I will probably have to fight hard against fast specialists in a very high level championship. I enjoyed my experience at the X Games last year and I expect something similar. Lohéac is the temple of Rallycross.  This is a well-known event with always a very big crowd. In a sportive side, this is also a very tough race. I couldn’t let this opportunity to participate at least once in my career pass, especially because it is with a Citroën DS3. I am looking forward to go to Lohéac, meet the fans and race there.”

Rallycross Lohéac, 30km south of Rennes in Brittany, is widely accepted as being the best attended Rallycross event in the world. Regularly attracting more than 30,000 spectators it has been a cornerstone of the French championship for many years and, this year, is included in the FIA European Rallycross Championship for the first time since 2001.

Photo: Sébastien Loeb pictured in the Hansen Motorsport Citroën DS3 SuperCar en route to his 2012 X Games victory. © QBA/ERC24