FIA World Rallycross Championship

The FIA World Rallycross Championship (official abbreviation is World RX) is a rallycross series organised by the FIA in conjunction with series promoter Rallycross Promoter GmbH (founded by Red Bull and KW25).^[1] From the inaugural season in 2014 to 2020, IMG Motorsport fulfilled the role of promoter.

FIA World Rallycross Championship

Category	Rallycross
Country	International
Inaugural season	2014; 11 years ago (2014)
Tire suppliers	Hoosier
Drivers' champion	Johan Kristoffersson
Teams' champion	Kristoffersson Motorsport
Official website	fiaworldrallycross.com
Current season

Format

Regular lap vs. Joker lap (2016 World RX of Norway)

Cars line up on the grid before a Semi-Final

Semi-Final 2 at the 2016 World RX of Portugal

The series currently consists of 12 two-day events driven on closed circuits with mixed surface (mostly asphalt and gravel). Each event consists of:^[2]

• 4 Qualifying heats. In each of the 4 series there are smaller races containing 3 to 5 cars, and the driver with the fastest overall race time after 4 laps (including one Joker Lap) is declared the qualifying winner of Q1, Q2, Q3 and/or Q4. Drivers earn 'intermediate points' based on their positions. After the 4 qualifying series, the points are added up and the 12 drivers with the most points in the 'intermediate standings' move into the next round.
• 2 Semi-Finals. 6 cars race in each of both semi-finals, which are run over 6 laps (incl. one Joker Lap). The top 3 drivers in each semi-final move into the final round.
• Final. Like the semi-finals, this race is contested by 6 cars over 6 laps (incl. one Joker Lap). The winner of the final is deemed to be the event winner. However, the final winner has not necessarily claimed the most championship points from the whole event.

Categories

During the first FIA World Rallycross Championship season in 2014, two classes were run, Supercar (later RX1) and the supporting RX Lites series (later RX2).^[3] RX Lites teams raced identical cars prepared by OlsbergsMSE.^[4] The World RX Championship series was introduced to distinguish it from the FIA European Rallycross Championship, which has been contested since 1976 and was renamed in March 2013.^[5]

The Projekt E electric rallycross car

An electric category was planned to be introduced in 2020,^[6][7] but it was announced in August 2018 that the introduction of a fully electric Championship would be delayed until 2021 to allow manufacturers more time to submit an interest to join following the rules change.^[8][9] Instead, the Projekt E class was run in 2020 as a special parallel series using a spec racer.^[10] The Projekt E spec electric rallycross car was revealed in September 2019 at the Riga Motor Museum in Latvia.^[11] FIA announced in August 2020 that RX2e would be replacing the RX2 category for the 2021 season.^[12] The top World Rallycross Championship series switched to electric cars (RX1e) in August 2022, making World RX an all-electric race series.^[13]

For 2022, there are two World Rallycross Championships and two European Rallycross Championships:^[14]

1. FIA World Rallycross Championship, using cars from the RX1e class
2. FIA Euro RX1 Rallycross Championship, using cars from the RX1 class
3. FIA RX2e Rallycross Championship, using cars from the RX2e class
4. FIA Euro RX3 Rallycross Championship, using cars from the RX3 class

FIA World Rallycross class summary

Class	Output		Weight	Years
	Power	Torque
RX1[a]	430–450 kW (570–600 hp)	840–920 N⋅m (620–680 lb⋅ft)	1,300 kg (2,900 lb)	2014–2021 now Euro only[b]
RX2[c]	230–240 kW (310–320 hp)	300 N⋅m (220 lbf⋅ft)	1,100 kg (2,400 lb)	2014–2020
RX3[d]	160–190 kW (220–250 hp)	190–200 N⋅m (140–150 lbf⋅ft)	920–1,000 kg (2,030–2,200 lb)	Euro only[b]
Projekt E	450 kW (600 hp)			2020
RX1e	510 kW (680 hp)	880 N⋅m (650 lbf⋅ft)	1,300–1,330 kg (2,870–2,930 lb)	2022–present
RX2e	270 kW (360 hp)	510 N⋅m (380 lbf⋅ft)	1,290 kg (2,840 lb)	2021–present

Notes

1. Formerly Supercar, 2014–20
2. Exclusively contested in Euro RX
3. Formerly RX Lites, 2014–16
4. Formerly Super 1600, 2001–10

Internal combustion

The top-level RX1 Supercars division use 2.0 L, turbocharged, four-cylinder engines, which produce approximately 570–600 hp (430–450 kW), and between 620–680 lb⋅ft (840–920 N⋅m) of torque,^[15] while using a 45 mm (1.8 in) intake restrictor.^{[16][17][18]: 5/41 [19][20][21][22]} The engines run 50 psi (3.4 bar) of boost pressure,^[23][24] and completely unrestricted, are capable of making about 1,000 hp (750 kW) and 1,100 lb⋅ft (1,500 N⋅m) of torque.^{[25][26][27][28][29][30][31][32]} They are four-wheel-drive, and use a Sadev 6-speed sequential gearbox. They use launch control, and are capable of accelerating from 0–60 mph (0–97 km/h) in under 2 seconds; which is faster than a Formula One car. Fully prepared, the cars weigh about 1,300 kg (2,900 lb), including the driver, and with oil and fuel.^[33][34]

The second-tier RX2 Supercar Lites division uses a 16-valve, 2.4 L, naturally aspirated, Ford Duratec inline-four engine, making between 310–320 hp (230–240 kW) and 300 N⋅m (220 lbf⋅ft) of torque. They are also four-wheel-drive, and also use a 6-speed sequential gearbox.^[35][36] They have a minimum weight of 1,100 kg (2,400 lb), including the driver.^[37][38][39]

The RX3 (formerly Super 1600) class uses 1.6 L (1600 cc), naturally aspirated, four-cylinder engines; generating between 220–250 hp (160–190 kW) and between 190–200 N⋅m (140–150 lbf⋅ft) of torque. They are only two-wheel-drive (front-wheel-drive), and use either a 5- or 6-speed sequential gearbox. They weigh between 920–1,000 kg (2,030–2,200 lb) including the driver, depending on how many valves per cylinder the engine has. They are capable of a 0–60 mph (0–97 km/h) time in just under 4.5 seconds.^[40][41][42]

Electric

The top-level all-electric RX1e Supercar division uses two electric motors, each producing 340 hp (250 kW) and 440 N⋅m (320 lbf⋅ft) of torque; for a total of 680 hp (510 kW) and 880 N⋅m (650 lbf⋅ft) of instant torque.^[43][44] They are four-wheel-drive, weigh between 1,300–1,330 kg (2,870–2,930 lb), and can accelerate from 0–60 mph (0–97 km/h) in 1.8 seconds.^[45][46]

The second-tier all-electric RX2e division uses two electric motors, each producing 167.5 hp (124.9 kW) and 255 N⋅m (188 lbf⋅ft) of torque; for a total of 335 hp (250 kW) and 510 N⋅m (380 lbf⋅ft) of torque. They are also four-wheel-drive, and weigh 1,290 kg (2,840 lb).^[47][48][49]

Projekt E used electric powertrain kits supplied by STARD. The first car used a Ford Fiesta bodyshell; the STARD ElectRX was a three-motor, all-wheel drive car with 450 kW (600 hp) combined output.^[50]

Points system

Points are scored as follows:

Position	1st	2nd	3rd	4th	5th	6th	7th	8th	9th	10th	11th	12th	13th	14th	15th
Points	20	16	13	12	11	10	9	8	7	6	5	4	3	2	1

2014-2021 World Championship points were scored as follows:

Points Scale	Position
	1st	2nd	3rd	4th	5th	6th	7th	8th	9th	10th	11th	12th	13th	14th	15th	16th
Heats	16	15	14	13	12	11	10	9	8	7	6	5	4	3	2	1
Semi-Finals	6	5	4	3	2	1
Final	8	5	4	3	2	1

• A red background denotes drivers who did not advance from the round

Drivers

Main article: List of World Rallycross Championship drivers

Events

Main article: List of World Rallycross Championship events

Results

Records correct up to and including the 2022 World RX of Germany.

Champions

FIA World Rallycross Champions (Supercar / RX1 / RX1e)

Season	Championship for Drivers			Championship for Teams
	Driver	Team	Car	Team	Car
2014	Petter Solberg	PSRX	Citroën DS3	Olsbergs MSE	Ford Fiesta ST
2015	Petter Solberg	SDRX	Citroën DS3	Team Peugeot-Hansen	Peugeot 208
2016	Mattias Ekström	EKS RX	Audi S1	EKS RX	Audi S1
2017	Johan Kristoffersson	PSRX Volkswagen Sweden	Volkswagen Polo GTI	PSRX Volkswagen Sweden	Volkswagen Polo GTI
2018	Johan Kristoffersson	PSRX Volkswagen Sweden	Volkswagen Polo R	PSRX Volkswagen Sweden	Volkswagen Polo R
2019	Timmy Hansen	Team Hansen MJP	Peugeot 208	Team Hansen MJP	Peugeot 208
2020	Johan Kristoffersson	Volkswagen Dealerteam	Volkswagen Polo	KYB Team JC	Audi S1
2021	Johan Kristoffersson	EKS KYB JC	Audi S1	Hansen World RX Team	Peugeot 208
2022	Johan Kristoffersson	Kristoffersson Motorsport	Volkswagen Polo	Kristoffersson Motorsport	Volkswagen Polo
2023	Johan Kristoffersson	Kristoffersson Motorsport	Volkswagen Polo	Kristoffersson Motorsport	Volkswagen Polo
2024	Johan Kristoffersson	Kristoffersson Motorsport	Volkswagen Polo	Kristoffersson Motorsport	Volkswagen Polo

FIA RX Lites / RX2 / RX2e Champions

Season	Championship for Drivers
	Driver	Team	Car
2014	Kevin Eriksson	Olsbergs MSE	OMSE RX Lite Car
2015	Kevin Hansen	Hansen Junior Team	OMSE RX Lite Car
2016	Cyril Raymond	Cyril Raymond	OMSE RX Lite Car
2017	Cyril Raymond	Cyril Raymond	OMSE RX2 Car
2018	Oliver Eriksson	Olsbergs MSE	OMSE RX2 Car
2019	Oliver Eriksson	Olsbergs MSE	OMSE RX2 Car
2020	Henrik Krogstad	Olsbergs MSE	OMSE RX2 Car
2021	Guillaume De Ridder	Guillaume De Ridder	ZEROID X1
2022	Viktor Vranckx	Bert Vranckx	ZEROID X1
2023[a]	Nils Andersson	Team E	ZEROID X1
2024	Nils Andersson	Team E	ZEROID X1

Statistics

Event wins by driver

The drivers champion of the first two seasons, Petter Solberg

2016 champion Mattias Ekström

Six time champion Johan Kristoffersson

2019 champion Timmy Hansen

Key

	Driver is a World Champion
Bold	Driver has competed in the 2024 season

Wins	Driver	First win	Last win
45	Johan Kristoffersson	2015 World RX of Portugal	2024 World RX of Portugal
14	Timmy Hansen	2014 World RX of Italy	2024 World RX of Benelux
12	Mattias Ekström	2014 World RX of Sweden	2020 World RX of Latvia
10	Petter Solberg	2014 World RX of Portugal	2017 World RX of Great Britain
8	Niclas Grönholm	2019 World RX of Norway	2024 World RX of Hungary
7	Andreas Bakkerud	2014 World RX of Great Britain	2019 World RX of Canada
4	Kevin Hansen	2019 World RX of Abu Dhabi	2024 World RX of Portugal
2	Davy Jeanney	2015 World RX of Germany	2015 World RX of Canada
	Toomas Heikkinen	2014 World RX of Belgium	2015 World RX of Belgium
	Sébastien Loeb	2016 World RX of Latvia	2018 World RX of Belgium
1	Reinis Nitišs	2014 World RX of Norway
	Tanner Foust	2014 World RX of Finland
	Robin Larsson	2015 World RX of Argentina
	Kevin Eriksson	2016 World RX of Germany
	Timur Timerzyanov	2019 World RX of Belgium
	Sebastian Eriksson	2019 World RX of Sweden
	Timo Scheider	2023 World RX of South Africa
	Ole Christian Veiby	2024 World RX of Turkey
	Juha Rytkönen	2024 World RX of Turkey

Event podiums by driver

Podiums	Driver
61	Johan Kristoffersson
46	Timmy Hansen
30	Petter Solberg
	Andreas Bakkerud
27	Mattias Ekström
23	Kevin Hansen
19	Niclas Grönholm
17	Sébastien Loeb
12	Ole Christian Veiby
8	Toomas Heikkinen
	Reinis Nitišs
6	Robin Larsson
	Timur Timerzyanov
	Timo Scheider
4	Anton Marklund
	Gustav Bergström
3	Davy Jeanney
	Klara Andersson
2	Ken Block
	Tanner Foust
	Kevin Eriksson
	Jānis Baumanis
	Krisztián Szabó
	Juha Rytkönen
1	Andrew Jordan
	Liam Doran
	Jean-Baptiste Dubourg
	Jerome Grosset-Janin
	Joni Wiman
	Richard Göransson
	Sebastian Eriksson
	Kevin Abbring
	Yury Belevskiy
	Patrick O'Donovan
	Jankó Wieszt

Event wins by car

Wins	Car
45	Volkswagen Polo
21	Peugeot 208
16	Audi S1
9	Citroën DS3
7	Hyundai i20
6	Ford Fiesta
4	ZEROID X1
3	Ford Focus
2	PWR RX1e
1	Audi A1

Event wins by manufacturer

Wins	Manufacturer
45	Volkswagen
21	Peugeot
17	Audi
9	Citroën
	Ford
8	Hyundai
4	QEV Technologies
2	PWR Racing

See also

• FIA European Rallycross Championship
• Dirt Rally, the first videogame to be an officially licensed FIA World Rallycross Championship game.^[51]

Notes

1. The 2023 RX2e series was part of the European championship, rather than the world championship as it had been previously.

References

1. "Rallycross Promoter GmbH builds team for World RX future". FIA World Rallycross. Archived from the original on 2021-04-21. Retrieved 2021-04-22.
2. "FIA World Rallycross Championship". Fiaworldrallycross.com. Retrieved 1 April 2019.
3. Bristow, Matt (December 4, 2013). "FIA World Rallycross Championship Announces 2014 Plans". The Checkered Flag. Retrieved 27 October 2022.
4. Bristow, Matt (January 23, 2014). "FIA World Rallycross Championship Adds RX Lites As Support Class". The Checkered Flag. Retrieved 27 October 2022.
5. Bristow, Matt (March 26, 2013). "New Look European Rallycross Under Starters Orders This Weekend". The Checkered Flag. Retrieved 27 October 2022.
6. Ridge, Hal (2 August 2017). "World Rallycross to introduce electric cars as early as 2020". Autosport.com. Retrieved 1 April 2019.
7. "World Rallycross set to add electric cars in future". Motorsport.com. 2 August 2017. Retrieved 1 April 2019.
8. "World Rallycross delays electric switch until 2021". Motorsport.com. 16 August 2018. Retrieved 1 April 2019.
9. Kinch, Phil (August 16, 2018). "World RX postpones move to Electric until 2021". The Checkered Flag. Retrieved 27 October 2022.
10. Cunnane, Jack (January 28, 2020). "World RX to run Electric and Petrol Powered supercars in 2021". The Checkered Flag. Retrieved 27 October 2022.
11. Ridge, Hal (2019-09-13), First Projekt E electric rallycross car unveiled at Latvian WRX, autosport.com, retrieved 2019-09-17
12. Lindroos, Pontus (August 1, 2020). "FIA eRX2 Championship Unveiled". The Checkered Flag.
13. Huntley, Ben (August 4, 2022). "Premiere of the new era of World Rallycross to take place next week". The Checkered Flag. Retrieved 31 October 2022.
14. "Sporting Regulations of the FIA World Rallycross Championship | Appendix 1: Supplementary Regulations, Part 1" (PDF). Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile. October 2022. Retrieved 27 October 2022.
15. "An Inside Look at mountune's GRC Ford Duratec Engine!". 26 February 2015.
16. "FIA World Rallycross Championship Regulations". Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile. Retrieved 27 October 2022.
17. "Appendix J – Article 279: Technical Regulations for Rallycross Cars" (PDF). Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile. December 15, 2021. Retrieved 27 October 2022.
18. "RX1, Supercar, What's in a name? RallycrossWorld.com". RallycrossWorld.com. October 16, 2020.
19. "Technical details of FIA World RX1e powertrain revealed". 4 December 2020.
20. "New Polo for driving thrills: The Volkswagen Polo R Supercar". Volkswagen Newsroom.
21. "PSRX Volkswagen Sweden reveals 2017 World Rallycross Polo GTI Supercar". 21 March 2017.
22. "WRC vs World Rallycross Cars | Petter Solberg's VW Polo [TECH TALK]".
23. "How Global Rallycross cars hit 60 mph in 1.9 seconds". Motor Authority. 13 October 2016.
24. "FIA Turbo restrictors".
25. "Citroen DS3: Going beyond WRC". Racecar Engineering. 16 November 2012.
26. "Ds3 Supercar: Like Being Thrown Out of a Plane… Only Faster". 18 January 2013.
27. "Subaru Cars, Sedans, SUVs | Subaru of America".
28. "Audi S1 makes rallycross debut". Racecar Engineering. 19 June 2014.
29. "Garage".
30. "About RallyX | RallyX".
31. "The Art of a World RX Supercar". 8 November 2020.
32. "Subaru shows new RX Supercar". Racecar Engineering. 31 March 2015.
33. "What is Rallycross?".
34. "FIA World Rallycross Championship: Glossary". Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile. Archived from the original on August 4, 2021.
35. "7 reasons why World Rallycross' RX2 cars are serious pieces of kit". Red Bull.
36. "WESMO COSWORTH Duratec 2.4 | Westermann GMBH Motorsport – official Partner of Caterham Cars, Cosworth and Brian James Trailers".
37. "The Car | SuperCarLites".
38. "Supercar Lites – OMSE".
39. "Supercar Lites | RallyX".
40. "Categories".
41. "2003 Citroën C2 Super 1600 Specifications".
42. "Rallycross". Ferratum World RX of Rīga-Latvia.
43. "FIA World Rallycross Moving Forward with All-Electric Series in 2022". 30 September 2021.
44. "The future starts here: 14-car grid to electrify World RX action in 2022". FIA World Rallycross Championship.
45. "E-Motorsports".
46. "Mikkelsen: World Rx's Electric Future 'On Another Level'".
47. "FIA World Rallycross Championship".
48. "Explaining eRX2's potential to revolutionize rallycross". 4 August 2020.
49. "FIA World Rallycross Championship".
50. Ridge, Hal (July 13, 2020). "Electric rallycross car makes winning debut with Stohl". Motorsport.com. Retrieved 27 October 2022.
51. Scammell, David (2 July 2015). "DiRT Rally partners with FIA World Rallycross Championship for World RX update". VideoGamer.com. Retrieved 5 July 2015.

External links

• Official website