2018 FIA World Rallycross Championship explained

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.

Johan Kristoffersson won the Drivers' Championship for the second season running during the World RX of the United States.^[1]

Calendar

The 2018 championship was contested over twelve rounds in Europe, Africa and North America.

	Event	Dates	Venue	Class	Winner	Team	Report
1	World RX of Barcelona	14–16 April	Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, Montmeló	Supercar	Johan Kristoffersson	PSRX Volkswagen Sweden	Report
2	World RX of Portugal	28–29 April		Supercar	Johan Kristoffersson	PSRX Volkswagen Sweden	Report
3	World RX of Belgium	12–13 May	Circuit Jules Tacheny Mettet, Mettet	Supercar	Sébastien Loeb	Team Peugeot Total	Report
				RX2	Ben-Philip Gundersen	JC Raceteknik
4		25–27 May	Silverstone Circuit, Silverstone	Supercar	Johan Kristoffersson	PSRX Volkswagen Sweden	Report
				RX2	Oliver Eriksson	Olsbergs MSE
5	World RX of Norway	9–10 June	Lånkebanen, Hell	Supercar	Johan Kristoffersson	PSRX Volkswagen Sweden	Report
				RX2	Guillaume De Ridder	Olsbergs MSE
6	World RX of Sweden	30 June–1 July	Höljesbanan, Höljes	Supercar	Johan Kristoffersson	PSRX Volkswagen Sweden	Report
				RX2	Guillaume De Ridder	Olsbergs MSE
7	World RX of Canada	4–5 August	Circuit Trois-Rivières, Trois-Rivières	Supercar	Johan Kristoffersson	PSRX Volkswagen Sweden	Report
				RX2	Oliver Eriksson	Olsbergs MSE
8	World RX of France	1–2 September	Circuit de Lohéac, Lohéac	Supercar	Johan Kristoffersson	PSRX Volkswagen Sweden	Report
				RX2	Oliver Eriksson	Olsbergs MSE
9	World RX of Latvia	15–16 September	Biķernieku Kompleksā Sporta Bāze, Riga	Supercar	Johan Kristoffersson	PSRX Volkswagen Sweden	Report
10	World RX of the United States	29–30 September	Circuit of the Americas, Austin	Supercar	Johan Kristoffersson	PSRX Volkswagen Sweden	Report
11	World RX of Germany		Estering, Buxtehude	Supercar	Johan Kristoffersson	PSRX Volkswagen Sweden	Report
12	World RX of South Africa	24–25 November		Supercar	Johan Kristoffersson	PSRX Volkswagen Sweden	Report
				RX2	Ben-Philip Gundersen	JC Raceteknik

Calendar changes

• The championship will expand to include a round in the United States for the first time, with the Circuit of the Americas in Austin, Texas scheduled to host the event in conjunction with the Americas Rallycross Championship.^[2]
• The World RX of Great Britain event will relocate from Lydden Hill Race Circuit to a new venue at the Silverstone Circuit.^[3]
• The Hockenheim round of the championship was discontinued to accommodate the new American round.^[4]
• The World RX of Canada also shares an event with the Americas Rallycross Championship.

Entries

Supercar

Factory Teams
Constructor	Entrant	Car		Drivers	Rounds
Audi	EKS Audi Sport^[5]	Audi S1	5	Mattias Ekström	All
			13	Andreas Bakkerud^[6]	All
			51	Nico Müller	9
Peugeot	Team Peugeot Total^[7]	Peugeot 208	9	Sébastien Loeb	All
			21	Timmy Hansen	All
			71	Kevin Hansen	All
Volkswagen		Volkswagen Polo R	1	Johan Kristoffersson	All
			11	Petter Solberg	All
Privateers / satellites
Constructor	Entrant	Car		Drivers	Rounds
Audi	Kárai Motorsport Egyesület	Audi A1	102	Tamás Kárai	4
		Audi S1	67		3
BMW	Oliver Bennett	BMW MINI Cooper	42		1-2, 4-6, 8-9, 11-12
Citroën	Mário Barbosa	Citroën DS3	75	Mário Barbosa	2
	Hervé "Knapick" Lemonnier		84	"Knapick"	1, 4, 8
Ford	Team STARD^[8]	Ford Fiesta	6	Jānis Baumanis	All
	58		Qinghua Ma^[9]	4
	60		Joni-Pekka Rajala	5
	Oliver O'Donovan		2	Oliver O'Donovan	8
	MJP Racing Team Austria^[10] ^[11]		31	Max Pucher	5
	32		Alexander Wurz	5, 9
	57			8-9
	177			4, 8
	Olsbergs MSE^[12]	Ford Fiesta ST	4	Robin Larsson	All
			96	Kevin Eriksson	All
	Bompiso Racing Team	Ford Focus	41		2
Hyundai	GRX Taneco Team^[13]	Hyundai i20	7	Timur Timerzyanov	All
			68	Niclas Grönholm	All
Peugeot		Peugeot 208	66		All
	Mark Higgins		134	Mark Higgins	4
	Davy Jeanney		17	Davy Jeanney	8
	Emmanuel Anne		29	Emmanuel Anne	8
	Gaëten Serazin		62	Gaëten Serzain	8
	Cyril Raymond		113	Cyril Raymond	11
Renault	GC Kompetition^[14]		33	Liam Doran	8-9, 11
			36	Guerlain Chicherit	All
			74		1-7
			92	Anton Marklund	10-12
SEAT	Münnich Motorsport^[15]	SEAT Ibiza	44		6, 8-9, 12
	77			5, 11-12
Volkswagen	Marklund Motorsport^[16]	Volkswagen Polo	24	Tommy Rustad	4-5, 8
	92		Anton Marklund	4-5
	Kjetil Larsen		64		5, 11

Drivers with a green background are ineligible to score points towards the Championship for Teams.

•  — Despite having been born in France, Grégoire Demoustier is recognised by the FIA World Rallycross Championship as a Belgian driver for the duration of the 2018 season.^[17]

RX2

RX2 Teams
Constructor	Entrant	Car		Drivers	Rounds
OMSE	JC Raceteknik	Olsbergs MSE RX2	2	Ben-Philip Gundersen	All
			6	William Nilsson	All
			69	Sondre Evjen	All
			77	Henrik Krogstad	All
			90	Jimmie Walfridson	4
			91	Jonathan Walfridsson	4
			99	Marcus Höglund	3-4
	Set Promotion		8	Simon Wågø Syversen	1-6
			22	Sami-Matti Trogen	2-7
			65	Jami Kalliomäki	All
			59	Ashley Haigh-Smith	7
	Glenn Haug		9	Glenn Haug	1-4
	Martin Jonsson		10	Martin Jonsson	4
	Mats Oskarsson		11	Mats Oskarsson	4
	Anders Michalak		12	Anders Michalak	All
	Hampus Rådström		17	Hampus Rådström	4
	Olsbergs MSE		16	Oliver Eriksson	All
			18	Linus Östlund	4
			53	Cole Keatts	All
			96	Guillaume De Ridder	All
	Team Faren		21	Conner Martell	All
			50	Nathan Heathcote	All
	Koen Pauwels		23	Koen Pauwels	1
	Petter Leirhol		27	Petter Leirhol	4
	Christian Brooks		44	Christian Brooks	4
	Simon Olofsson		52	Simon Olofsson	1-4, 6-7
	Sport Racing Technologies		55	Vasily Gryazin	All
			75	Edijs Oss	6
			15	Reinis Nitišs	7
			66	Albert Llovera ^2	1-6
	Santosh Berggren		68	Santosh Berggren	4
	Johnny Andersson		86	Johnny Andersson	4
	Stein Frederic-Akre		98	Stein Frederic-Akre	4

² Despite having been born in Andorra, Albert Llovera is recognised by the RX2 International Series and by extension, the FIA World Rallycross Championship as a Spanish driver for the duration of the 2018 season.^{[18] [19]}

Team changes

• Hoonigan Racing Division withdrew from the series at the conclusion of the 2017 championship.^[20]
• Team Peugeot Total will step up their involvement in World RX, running as a full factory team in 2018, as compared to the family-based Hansen Motorsport-run cars in 2017.
• Olsbergs MSE returned to World RX full-time in 2018 after competing part-time in 2017. They will debut their new-specification 2018 Ford Fiesta ST MK8 Supercars, built in collaboration with Ford Performance in Barcelona.
• GC Kompetition (GCK) will make their World RX debut as a team entry. Team owner and driver Guerlain Chicherit oversaw the development of the new Renault Mégane R.S. RX, which was built in collaboration with Prodrive.
• GRX Taneco will enter the championship, using a pair of ex-Hyundai Motorsport Hyundai i20 WRC cars built to rallycross specifications by Set Promotion. Double world rally champion Marcus Grönholm will be the team's principal.
• Sébastien Loeb Racing will enter the championship with a single Peugeot 208 WRX run for Grégoire Demoustier.

Driver changes

• Andreas Bakkerud left Hoonigan Racing Division to join EKS RX.^[21]
• Toomas Heikkinen and Reinis Nitišs both left EKS RX.^{[22] [23]} Nitišs will instead re-join Set Promotion, the team in which he won the Super1600 championship with in 2013, and compete in the FIA European Rallycross Championship with an M-Sport Ford Fiesta. Heikkinen also joined the team, but stepped down from driving duties, becoming Nitišs’ team manager and a driving coach for Set Promotion's Super1600 drivers.
• After spending a year with MJP Racing Team Austria in 2017, Kevin Eriksson returned to his father's Olsbergs MSE team alongside fellow countryman Robin Larsson, who will make his return to World RX after a year sabbatical.
• Jérôme Grosset-Janin will partner team owner and driver Guerlain Chicherit, driving for the new GCK team.
• Double European Rallycross champion Timur Timerzyanov left STARD to join GRX Taneco, partnering Niclas Grönholm in the new Hyundai i20.

Results and standings

World Championship points are scored as follows:

	Position
Round	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

FIA World Rallycross Championship for Drivers

Driver BAR POR BEL GBR NOR SWE CAN FRA LAT USA GER RSA Points 1 Johan Kristoffersson 1 1 5 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 341 2 Mattias Ekström 6^a 7 4 4 2 6 4 4 2 5 2 2 248 3 3 4 6 2 6 2 7 2 8 3 3 7 237 4 Sébastien Loeb 2 2 1 3 8 9 3 6 3 4 8 3 229 5 Petter Solberg 5 3 2 7 3 7 5 3 7 2 5 5^b 227 6 Timmy Hansen 7 6 3 8 5 4 2 5 5^b 6^b 7 6 192 7 Niclas Grönholm 4 10 11 5 7 11 8 11 4 8 4 13 146 8 Kevin Hansen 13 8 9 6 4 5 9 7^b 6 7 6 4 145 9 Jānis Baumanis 8 11 10 14 12 10 6 13 14 11 11 9 98 10 Timur Timerzyanov 10 12 8 12 21 8 11 9 11 13 20 11 86 11 Guerlain Chicherit 12 5 10 15 15 14 15 12 10 9 13 12 68 12 Jérôme Grosset-Janin 11 14 14 10 14 3 13 47 13 Kevin Eriksson 14 9 16 9 9 13^b 10^b 10^b 16 10 10 14 38 14 Anton Marklund 17 11 12^b 9 8 35 15 Robin Larsson 9 13 7 13 10 12 12^b 17^b 17 14 12 15 34 16 Liam Doran 8 12 19 19 17 Tommy Rustad 11 13 16 14 18 Timo Scheider 17 25 13 10 13 19 Nico Müller 9 10 20 Toomas Heikkinen 14 15 5 21 François Duval 13 4 22 Kjetil Larsen 19 14 3 23 Andrew Jordan 20 15 2 24 René Münnich 17 16 16 2 25 Joni-Pekka Rajala 16 1 26 Mark Higgins 16 1 27 "Knapick" 17 22 23 0 28 Joaquim Santos 17 0 29 Alexander Wurz 18 18 0 30 Mário Barbosa 18 0 31 Cyril Raymond 18 0 32 Tamás Kárai 19 0 33 Davy Jeanney 20 0 34 Gaëten Serzain 21 0 35 Oliver O'Donovan 22 0 36 Max Pucher 23 0 37 Qinghua Ma 23 0 38 Emmanuel Anne 24 0 39 Oliver Bennett 15 16 21 20 15 18 20 15 18^c -3 40 Grégoire Demoustier 16 15 15 18 22 16 14 19 19 15 17 17^b -4 Driver BAR POR BEL GBR NOR SWE CAN FRA LAT USA GER RSA Points

^a Ekström received no points from the final as he was disqualified after crashing into Solberg.
^b Loss of fifteen championship points – stewards' decision
^c Loss of ten championship points – stewards' decision

FIA World Rallycross Championship for Teams

	Team		Drivers	Points
1	PSRX Volkswagen Sweden	1		568
		11	Petter Solberg
2	EKS Audi Sport	5	Mattias Ekström	485
		13	Andreas Bakkerud
3	Team Peugeot Total	9	Sébastien Loeb	421
		21	Timmy Hansen
4	GRX Taneco Team	28	Timur Timerzyanov	232
		68	Niclas Grönholm
5	GC Kompetition	33	Liam Doran	152
		36	Guerlain Chicherit
		74	Jérôme Grosset-Janin
		92	Anton Marklund
6	Olsbergs MSE	4	Robin Larsson	72
		96

RX2 International Series

(key)

	Driver	BEL	GBR	NOR	SWE	CAN	FRA	RSA	Points
1	Oliver Eriksson	7	1	2	4	1	1	6	175
2	Guillaume De Ridder	8	7	1	1	2	3	7	156
3	Henrik Krogstad	3	8	3	2	8	6	9	121
4	Ben-Philip Gundersen	1	10	8	5	7	11	1	119
5	Vasily Gryazin	5	6	5	14	4	10	3	118
6	Sondre Evjen	2	3	4	22	11	5	2	106
7	William Nilsson	4	12	6	7	9	8	4	93
8	Jami Kalliomäki	6	9	10	11	10	9	8	83
9	Conner Martell	10	2	12	17	6	4	10	80
10	Sami-Matti Trogen		11	9	15	5	2	5	79
11	Nathan Heathcote	14	17	11	10	13	7	11	49
12	Simon Wågø Syversen	11	13	7	24	12	12		38
13	Anders Michalak	13	4	14	21	14	15	13	33
14	Simon Olofsson	12	15	15	3		14	14	32
15	Cole Keatts	16	14	16	27	3	13	12	31
16	Glenn Haug	9	5	13	18				25
17	Christian Brooks				6				20
18	Jimmie Walfridson				8				14
19	Marcus Höglund			17	9				13
20	Petter Leirhol				12				6
21	Linus Ostlund				13				4
22	Albert Llovera	17	16	18	29	15	17		3
23	Koen Pauwels	15							2
24	Reinis Nitišs							15	2
25	Ashely Haigh-Smith							16	1
26	Edijs Oss						16		1
27	Stein Frederic-Akre				16				1
28	Santosh Berggren				19				0
29	Mats Oskarsson				20				0
30	Hampus Rådström				23				0
31	Martin Jonsson				25				0
32	Johnny Andersson				26				0
33	Jonathan Walfridsson				28				0
	Driver	BEL	GBR	NOR	SWE	CAN	FRA	RSA	Points

See also

2018 in rallycross

Notes and References

1. News: KRISTOFFERSSON CROWNED WORLD RX CHAMPION AT COTA . FIA World RX . 7 October 2018 . 7 October 2018 . https://web.archive.org/web/20181007145629/http://www.fiaworldrallycross.com/article/10149/kristoffersson-seals-title-and-wins . dead .
2. News: World Rallycross to race in USA from 2018. Speedcafe. 24 October 2017. 24 October 2017.
3. News: Silverstone reveals new World RX circuit. Speedcafe. 31 May 2017. 24 October 2017.
4. News: Hockenheim dropped from 2018 World Rallycross schedule. Hal. Ridge. Autosport. Motorsport Network. 24 October 2017. 25 October 2017.
5. Web site: EKS TO RECEIVE AUDI SPORT BACKING IN WORLD RX. FIA World Rallycross. 2018-03-05. 2017-12-13. https://web.archive.org/web/20171213205053/http://www.fiaworldrallycross.com/article/9456/eks-to-receive-audi-sport. dead.
6. Web site: BAKKERUD JOINS EKSTROM DRIVING FOR EKS AUDI SPORT. FIA World Rallycross. 2018-03-05. 2018-03-06. https://web.archive.org/web/20180306022828/http://www.fiaworldrallycross.com/article/9819/bakkerud-joins-ekstrom-driving-for. dead.
7. Web site: PEUGEOT ARMS WORLD RX TITLE BID WITH FACTORY SUPPORT. FIA World Rallycross. 2018-03-05. 2018-03-06. https://web.archive.org/web/20180306022849/http://www.fiaworldrallycross.com/article/9846/peugeot-arms-world-rx-title. dead.
8. Web site: Jānis Baumanis stāsta par gatavošanos WorldRX sezonai un iespējamo ķīniešu komandas biedru - F1LV Blogs. Aldis. Putniņš. 9 March 2018.
9. Web site: SPEEDMACHINE ATTRACTS CAPACITY WORLD RX SILVERSTONE ENTRY. FIA World Rallycross. 2018-05-04. 2018-05-05. https://web.archive.org/web/20180505070340/http://www.fiaworldrallycross.com/article/9977/speedmachine-attracts-capacity-world-rx. dead.
10. Web site: WURZ HEADLINES HELL RX ENTRY LIST. FIA World Rallycross. 2018-05-19. 2018-05-20. https://web.archive.org/web/20180520124251/http://www.fiaworldrallycross.com/article/10008/wurz-headlines-hell-rx-entry. dead.
11. Web site: MJP Racing Rallycross. www.facebook.com.
12. Web site: Olsbergs MSE to make two-car WRX return.
13. Web site: Double WRC champion Marcus Gronholm launches Hyundai World RX team. Hal. Ridge.
14. Web site: FIA World Rallycross on Twitter.
15. Web site: HOLJES RX ENTRY LIST REVEALED. FIA World Rallycross. 2018-06-08. 2018-06-12. https://web.archive.org/web/20180612143030/http://www.fiaworldrallycross.com/article/10031/holjes-rx-entry-list-revealed. dead.
16. Web site: RUSTAD SET TO JOIN SPEEDMACHINE & HELL WORLD RX GRIDS. FIA World Rallycross. 2018-03-31. 2018-04-01. https://web.archive.org/web/20180401003551/http://www.fiaworldrallycross.com/article/9873/rustad-set-to-join-speedmachine. dead.
17. Web site: Driver Profile - Grégoire Demoustier. FIA. 26 August 2018. 16 August 2018. https://web.archive.org/web/20180816112901/http://www.fiaworldrallycross.com/driver/141/gregoire-demoustier. dead.
18. Web site: RX2 International Series - Drivers. Federation Internationale de l'Automobile. 26 August 2018. 2 April 2018. https://web.archive.org/web/20180402141909/http://www.fiaworldrallycross.com/rx2#drivers. dead.
19. Web site: RX2 International Series - Provisional Championship Standing. FIA. 26 August 2018. 9 September 2018. https://web.archive.org/web/20180909035624/http://media.rallycrossrx.com/results/RX2_points_CAN_2018.pdf. dead.
20. Web site: Ridge. Hal. Ken Block's Ford-backed Hoonigan team to quit World Rallycross. Autosport. 5 October 2017. 4 October 2017.
21. Web site: Ridge. Hal. Bakkerud to Ekstrom's Audi World RX team after Block squad's exit. Autosport. 20 February 2018. 31 January 2018.
22. Web site: Ridge. Hal. Ekstrom's team-mate Heikkinen leaves team amid RX uncertainty. Autosport. 20 February 2018. 20 December 2017.
23. Web site: Ridge. Hal. Reinis Nitiss splits with Mattias Ekstrom's EKS Audi World RX team. Autosport. 20 February 2018. 25 January 2018.