| Category | Supercar, Super1600 and TouringCar |
|---|---|
| Country | Europe |
| Inaugural season | 1976 |
| Drivers' champion |  Anton Marklund (RX1)  Damian Litwinowicz(RX3) |
| Official website | www.rallycrossrx.com |
 Current season | |
The European Rallycross Championship (former abbreviation ERC, now Euro RX or ERX) is a rallycross competition held in Europe, organised under the auspices of the FIA.
The predecessor championship began in 1973 as the Embassy/ERA European Rallycross Championship. In 1976 the FIA created regulations for rallycross, including Group 5 regulations for the cars, and awarded the first official European cup. For 1978 two classes became introduced, one class for Touring cars and one for Grand Touring cars, but the FIA European Cup was for the driver with the most scored points from both Divisions, Norwegian Martin Schanche. In 1979 Schanche claimed the first ever true FIA European Championship title.
In 1982 the FIA reorganized the classes into Division 1, for Group A but restricted to two-wheel drive, and Division 2 for the so-called Rallycross Specials, which allowed the use of four-wheel drive. The first European Champions under this new rules became Norwegian Egil Stenshagen and Austrian Franz Wurz (father of ex-Formula One driver Alexander Wurz).
After several major accidents, Group B cars were banned from the WRC at the end of 1986, but found their new home in the European Rallycross Championship in 1987. Division 1 continued to use only two-wheel drive touring cars, but the Division 2 received the exotic Group B machinery such as the Peugeot 205 Turbo 16 E2, Ford RS200 E2, Lancia Delta S4, Audi Sport Quattro S1 or MG Metro 6R4, which continued to be prepared past their highest point of evolution in rallying.
Beginning in the 1993 season, the Group B cars disappeared and the four-wheel drive "specials" came into the era. Division 1 was now open to four-wheel drive cars, but using Group N regulations. Division 2 was based in Group A, but allowing several extra modifications such as changing to a different engine produced by the same manufacturer, adding a turbocharger or four-wheel drive. This allowed the creation of machines based on the Citroën Xantia, Peugeot 306 or Ford Escort RS2000. A third division was added, for two-wheel drive cars up to 1.4 litres, called 1400 Cup, but the title was recognized by the FIA only in 1995.
In 1997, the divisions were swapped, with Division 1 now becoming the primary class, with Group A-based cars, and Group N moving to Division 2. In 1999, Division 1 was allowed cars based on WRC and Supertouring regulations, but with the same set of freedoms as the Group A (adding turbochargers and four-wheel drive where needed). Division 2 kept Group N, but with a maximum displacement of 2.0 litres and only two-wheel drive. In 2001 the 1400 Cup's status was upgraded to Division 2A.
For 2003, the class format was revised once more, assuming the form that is currently used. Division 1 and Division 2 remain essentially identical, with 4WD turbocharged Group A "specials" and 2WD normally aspirated 2.0 litre Group N cars, respectively, but a new Division A1 was created to replace the 1400 Cup, with regular Group A cars up to 1.6 litres.
In 2013 the European Rallycross Championship was promoted for the first time by IMG Motorsports. Rebranded as RallycrossRX (brand is not in official use any longer) the championship underwent changes to the racing format.
In 2014, the FIA approved plans for championship to become a fully sanctioned FIA World Championship. Together with the creation of the FIA World Rallycross Championship (World RX), the European Rallycross Championship (Euro RX) was restructured into a five round championship Supercar series with races in Great Britain, Norway, Belgium, Germany and Italy, while all nine rounds of the World RX to be held in Europe count for the European titles of the Super1600 and TouringCar drivers. [1]
The World Rally Championship is an international rallying series owned and governed by the FIA. Inaugurated in 1973, it is the second oldest of the FIA's world championships after Formula One. Each season lasts one calendar year, and separate championship titles are awarded to drivers, co-drivers and manufacturers. There are also two support championships, WRC2 and WRC3, which are contested on the same events and stages as the WRC, but with progressively lower maximum performance and running costs of the cars permitted. Junior WRC is also contested on five events of the World Rally Championship calendar.
The Ford RS200 is a mid-engined, all-wheel-drive sports car that was produced by Ford Motorsport in Boreham, UK, from 1984 to 1986. The road-going RS200 was the basis for Ford's Group B rally car and was designed to comply with FIA homologation regulations, which required 200 parts kits to be produced and at least one road-legal car to be assembled. It was first displayed to the public at the Belfast Motor Show.
Group B was a set of regulations for grand touring (GT) vehicles used in sports car racing and rallying introduced in 1982 by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). Although permitted to enter a GT class of the World Sportscar Championship alongside the more popular racing prototypes of Group C, Group B are commonly associated with the international rallying scene during 1982 to 1986 in popular culture, when they were the highest class used across rallying, including the World Rally Championship, regional and national championships.
Alexander Georg "Alex" Wurz is an Austrian former professional racing driver, driver training expert and businessman. He competed in Formula One from 1997 until 2007, and is also a two-time winner of the Le Mans 24 Hours.
The 1999 World Rally Championship was the 27th season of the FIA World Rally Championship. The season consisted of 14 rallies. Tommi Mäkinen won his fourth drivers' world championship driving for Mitsubishi, ahead of Richard Burns and Didier Auriol. The manufacturers' title was won by Toyota, ahead of Subaru and Mitsubishi.
The 1997 World Rally Championship was the 25th season of the FIA World Rally Championship. The season saw many changes in the championship. Most notably, Group A was partially replaced by the World Rally Car with manufacturers given the option which regulations to construct to. One inherent benefit to manufacturers by adopting WRC regulations was removing the need to mass-produce road-going versions of the cars that they competed with, under the previous rules for homologation. This meant that vehicles such as the Escort RS Cosworth and Subaru Impreza Turbo no longer had to be mass-produced for general sale in order to compete at World Championship level, and thus acting as a means of attracting increased competition and involvement by manufacturers. In the few years that follow, the Championship saw the added presence of WRC cars from companies such as Toyota, Hyundai, Seat, Citroën, and Peugeot, who would all compete under WRC regulations without having to manufacture equivalent specialised road cars for public sale. Both Ford and Subaru switched to WRC in 1997, except Mitsubishi who stayed with Group A to maintain the links to their Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution road cars. Subaru's transition was much more gradual for similar reasons with the early Subaru Impreza WRCs still largely Group A in nature.
The Citroën Xsara WRC is a World Rally Car built for the Citroën World Rally Team by Citroën Racing to compete in the World Rally Championship. It is based upon the Citroën Xsara road car. The car was introduced for the 2001 World Rally Championship season and has taken first three of nine drivers' titles for Sébastien Loeb, as well as the manufacturers' title in 2003, 2004, and 2005.
Tommy Rustad is a Norwegian racing driver. He currently drives in the FIA European Rallycross Championship and occasionally in the FIA World Rallycross Championship. Tommy is the son of former well known Norwegian racer Ola Rustad.
The FIA WRC2 Championship is a support championship of the World Rally Championship (WRC). The calendar consists of the same rallies and stages as the parent series and crews usually compete immediately after Rally1 class crews. WRC2 is limited to production-based cars homologated under Group Rally2 rules. There are separate specific championship titles awarded to Teams, Drivers and Co-Drivers.
Kevin Abbring is a Dutch rally driver. His father, Edwin Abbring, is also a well-known former rally driver.
The FIA 2-Litre World Rally Cup was a sub-section of the World Rally Championship from 1993 to 1999. It involved mostly 1,600 cc (97.6 cu in) or 2,000 cc (122.0 cu in), naturally aspirated, front wheel drive cars. The series was discontinued due to high costs, and the new Super 2000 class was amalgamated into the Production World Rally Championship, whilst the 1600cc cars were generally modified for usage in the Super 1600 class, which formed the basis of the Junior World Rally Championship in 2001. The most successful manufacturer was SEAT, who won the title three times in a row with their SEAT Ibiza Kit Car.
The FIA World Rallycross Championship is a rallycross series organised by the FIA in conjunction with series promoter Rallycross Promoter GmbH. From the inaugural season in 2014 to 2020, IMG Motorsport fulfilled the role of promoter.
Kenneth Timmy Hansen is a rallycross driver from Sweden. He won the 2019 FIA World Rallycross Championship in the FIA World Rallycross Championship, driving for Team Peugeot-Hansen. His father is the 14-times European Rallycross Champion Kenneth Hansen, his mother the 1994 ERA European Cup winner Susann Hansen, and his brother rallycross driver Kevin Hansen.
Hansen Motorsport, which formerly competed under the title Team Peugeot-Hansen as Peugeot's official partner in the motorsport of rallycross, is a team founded by Swedish racing driver Kenneth Hansen in 1990.
The 2016 FIA World Rallycross Championship presented by Monster Energy was the third season of the FIA World Rallycross Championship. The season consists of twelve rounds and started on 16 April with the Portuguese round at Montalegre. The season ended on 27 November, at Rosario, Santa Fe in Argentina.
The 2017 FIA World Rallycross Championship presented by Monster Energy was the fourth season of the FIA World Rallycross Championship. The season consists of twelve rounds, started on 1 April with the Spanish round at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya and concluded on 12 November at the Killarney Motor Racing Complex in Cape Town, South Africa.
The 2018 FIA World Rallycross Championship presented by Monster Energy was the fifth season of the FIA World Rallycross Championship an auto racing championship recognised by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA) as the highest class of international rallycross.
Oliver Solberg is a Swedish rally driver. He is the son of the Norwegian 2003 World Rally Champion, Petter Solberg, and Swedish mother Pernilla Walfridsson, who is also a successful former rally driver. After winning multiple crosskarting championships in his early years, Solberg became the 2018 RallyX Nordic Champion and 2019 FIA ERC1 Junior Champion before following in his father's footsteps and entering the World Rally Championship.
The 2021 FIA World Rallycross Championship was the eighth season of the FIA World Rallycross Championship, an auto racing championship recognised by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA) as the highest class of international rallycross.
The 2022 FIA World Rallycross Championship was the ninth season of the FIA World Rallycross Championship, an auto racing championship recognized by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA) as the highest class of international rallycross.
