2022 FIA World Rallycross Championship explained

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.

Johan Kristoffersson won the drivers' championship for the third consecutive year, his fifth title overall. Kristoffersson Motorsport won the teams' championship for the first time under that name.^[1]

Calendar

On 15 December 2021, the provisional 2022 calendar was announced during the FIA World Motorsport Council decisions:^{[2] [3]} The updated calendar was released on 21 March. It included one unconfirmed event.^[4] The calendar was updated again on 29 June on the FIA World Motorsport Council, in which World RX of Sweden was cancelled for RX1e, and World RX of Catalunya returned to the calendar provisionally.^[5] Another calendar update was announced on 7 July. The World RX of Germany was postponed to allow RX1e teams more time to prepare for the season.^[6]

	Event	Date	Venue	Class	Winner	Team	Report
1	Cooper Tires Rallycross of Sweden	2–3 July	Höljesbanan, Höljes	RX2e	Viktor Vranckx	Bert Vranckx	Report
2	Ramudden World RX of Norway	13–14 August	Lånkebanen, Hell	RX1e	Johan Kristoffersson	Kristoffersson Motorsport	Report
				RX2e	Viktor Vranckx	Bert Vranckx
3	Ferratum World RX of Rīga-Latvia	3–4 September	Biķernieku Kompleksā Sporta Bāze, Riga	RX1e	Johan Kristoffersson	Kristoffersson Motorsport	Report
4					Johan Kristoffersson	Kristoffersson Motorsport
				RX2e	Patrick O'Donovan	Patrick O'Donovan
5	Lusorecursos World RX of Portugal	17–18 September	Pista Automóvel de Montalegre, Montalegre	RX1e	Johan Kristoffersson	Kristoffersson Motorsport	Report
6					Niclas Grönholm	Construction Equipment Dealer Team
7	Benelux World RX of Spa-Francorchamps	8–9 October	Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps, Stavelot	RX1e	Johan Kristoffersson	Kristoffersson Motorsport	Report
8					Johan Kristoffersson	Kristoffersson Motorsport
				RX2e	Patrick O'Donovan	Patrick O'Donovan
9	World RX of Catalunya	29–30 October	Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, Montmeló	RX1e	Timmy Hansen	Hansen World RX Team	Report
10					Johan Kristoffersson	Kristoffersson Motorsport
				RX2e	Isak Sjökvist	Isak Sjökvist
11	World RX of Germany	12–13 November	Nürburgring, Nürburg	RX1e	Johan Kristoffersson	Kristoffersson Motorsport		Report

Calendar Changes

• World RX of Sweden was listed as the opening round of World Rallycross Championship. A further update was issued in March, with Holjes becoming an official launch event headlined by the Euro RX1 series for combustion-powered supercars. The World RallyCross Championship's electric era started at Norway's Hell track on 13-14 August after delays to allow teams to ready their new cars.^[7]

Series News

• For the first time in world rallycross history all the categories were based on electric power.^[8]
• The RX1 class was discontinued. It was replaced by the electric RX1e class. While bodywork and liveries were different, all cars in this new class used the same powertrain developed by Kreisel Electric.^[9]
• A new race weekend format was adopted for the 2022 season. The grids for heat 1 were set using a single-lap shootout SuperPole session immediately following practice. Single header events featured three heat races (down from four), and double header events featured two heat races (down from three). The grids for the heats following heat 1 were set by finishing position in the previous heat, rather than overall time. The positions per heat were determined by time. Following the heat races a 'Progression' race determined which ten drivers moved on to the semi-finals. From the semi-finals, the top 2 drivers from each semi moved on to the final, along with the highest-placed driver finishing in third. The staggered grid for the semi-finals and finals was removed in favor of a side-by-side grid. There was a maximum of five cars competing in every race.^[10]

Entries

RX1e

Constructor	Team	Model		Drivers	Rounds
GCK Exclusiv-e	Guerlain Chicherit	Lancia Delta Evo-e RX	36	Guerlain Chicherit	11	^[11]
Peugeot	Hansen World RX Team	Peugeot 208 RX1e	21	Timmy Hansen	All	^[12]
			71	Kevin Hansen	All
PWR Racing	Construction Equipment Dealer Team	PWR RX1e	12	Klara Andersson	All	^[13]
			68	Niclas Grönholm	All
Volkswagen	Kristoffersson Motorsport	Volkswagen Polo RX1e	1	Johan Kristoffersson	All	^[14]
			52	Ole Christian Veiby	All	^[15]
	Gustav Bergström		17	Gustav Bergström	All
SEAT	ALL-INKL.COM Münnich Motorsport	SEAT Ibiza RX1e	77	René Münnich	2–10	^[16]
			92	Anton Marklund	11	^[17]

RX2e

Constructor	Team	Car		Drivers	Rounds
QEV Technologies	Patrick O'Donovan	ZEROID X1^[18]	00	Patrick O'Donovan	All	^[19]
	Catie Munnings		3	Catie Munnings	1	^[20]
	QEV Motorsport		5	Pablo Suárez	All
			7	Carlos Checa Carrera	5	^[21]
			23	Nick Heidfeld	5
			26	Roberts Vitols	3	^[22]
			28	Filip Thorén	1, 3
			34	Lance Woolridge	2	^[23]
	Aksel Lund Svindal		9	Aksel Lund Svindal	2
	Escuderia Mollerussa		12	Pepe Arqué	5
	Bert Vranckx		13	Viktor Vranckx	All
	Kristoffersson Motorsport		14	Nils Andersson	All	^[24]
	Acciona Sainz XE Team		44	Laia Sanz	1–2, 5
	Mark Flaherty		77	Mark Flaherty	1–2
	Isak Sjökvist		82	Isak Sjökvist	All
	ACA Esport		97	Raul Ferre	All

Championship standings

Points are scored as follows:

RX1e Driver's Championship

	Driver	NOR	LVA		PRT		BEL		CAT		DEU	Points
1	Johan Kristoffersson	1	1	1	1	5	1	1	4	1	1	183
2	Timmy Hansen	2	3	4	3	4	4	7	1	2	3	136
3	Niclas Grönholm	5	7	5	7	1	5	2	2	5	2	130
4	Ole Christian Veiby	3	4	3	2	2	8	5	6	3	4	124
5	Kevin Hansen	7	2	2	4	7	2	4	5	6	5	122
6	Gustav Bergström	6	5	6	5	8	3	3	3	7	7	107
7	Klara Andersson	4	8	7	6	3	7	6	7	4	6	102
8	René Münnich	8	6	8	8	6	6	8	8	8		78
9	Anton Marklund										8	8
10	Guerlain Chicherit										9	7
	Driver	NOR	LVA		PRT		BEL		CAT		DEU	Points

RX1e Team's Championship

	Driver	No.	NOR	LVA		PRT		BEL		CAT		DEU	Points
1	Kristoffersson Motorsport	1	1	1	1	1	5	1	1	5	1	1	306
		52	3	4	3	2	2	8	5	6	3	4
2	Hansen World RX Team	21	2	3	4	3	4	5	7	1	2	3	259
		71	7	2	2	4	7	2	4	4	6	5
3	Construction Equipment Dealer Team	12	4	8	7	6	3	7	6	7	4	6	232
		68	5	7	5	7	1	4	2	2	5	2
	Driver		NOR	LVA		PRT		BEL		CAT		DEU	Points

RX2e Driver's Championship

	Driver	SWE	NOR	LVA	BEL	CAT	Points
1	Viktor Vranckx	1	1	3	2	2	83
2	Isak Sjökvist	3	3	2	5	1	73
3	Nils Andersson	2	2	6	6	3	65
4	Patrick O'Donovan	9	6	1	1	7	60
5	Raul Ferre	4	4	5	4	5	58
6	Pablo Suárez	5	5	7	3	4	56
7	Filip Thorén	6		8	7		27
8	Laia Sanz	7	8			8	25
9	Roberts Vitols			4			12
10	Mark Flaherty	10	10				11
11	Pepe Arqué					6	10
13	Lance Woolridge		7				9
13	Catie Munnings	8					8
14	Aksel Lund Svindal		9				7
15	Carlos Checa Carrera					9	7
16	Nick Heidfeld					10	6
	Driver	SWE	NOR	LVA	BEL	CAT	Points

Notes and References

1. Web site: King Kristoffersson: Super Swede is crowned in Catalunya . 2022-11-01 . FIA World Rallycross Championship . en.
2. Web site: Fan Favourites Return To The Calendar For First Season Of World RX's Electric Era. 16 December 2021. FIA World Rallycross. en.
3. Web site: FIA Announces World Motorsport Council Decisions. 16 December 2021. FIA. 8 July 2021 . en.
4. Web site: 21 March 2022 . UPDATED CALENDAR ISSUED FOR 2022 WORLD RX CAMPAIGN . live . 10 April 2022 . fiaworldrallycross.com . . 21 March 2022 . https://web.archive.org/web/20220321133034/https://www.fiaworldrallycross.com/world-rx/news/world-rx/2022/updated-2022-calendar/ .
5. Web site: FIA Announces World Motorsport Council Decisions. 30 June 2022. FIA. 29 June 2022 . en.
6. Web site: World RX's electric era to start in Norway next month . 2022-07-08 . FIA World Rallycross Championship . en.
7. Web site: Newbold. James. Delayed 2022 electric World RX season to begin in Norway in August.
8. Web site: Pryson. Mike. 2021-09-30. FIA World Rallycross Moving Forward with All-Electric Series in 2022. 2021-10-22. Autoweek. en-US.
9. Web site: The future starts here: 14-car grid to electrify World RX action in 2022. 2021-10-22. FIA World Rallycross Championship. en.
10. Web site: Format changes set to enhance the racing in 2022. 2021-12-19. FIA World Rallycross Championship. en.
11. Web site: Lancia Delta Evo-e RX set for Nürburgring World RX debut . 2022-11-05 . FIA World Rallycross Championship . en.
12. Web site: Hansen Motorsport commits to multi-year future in World RX's electric era . 2022-02-11 . FIA World Rallycross Championship . en.
13. Web site: Klara Andersson and Niclas Grönholm join forces in groundbreaking gender-equal line-up at CE Dealer Team. 2022-05-10. FIA World Rallycross Championship. en.
14. Web site: The Drive for Five: Reigning champion Kristoffersson commits to title defence with Volkswagen Dealerteam BAUHAUS . 2022-01-13 . FIA World Rallycross Championship . en.
15. Web site: Volkswagen Dealerteam BAUHAUS completes 2022 World RX driver line-up. 2022-08-02. FIA World Rallycross Championship. en.
16. Web site: World RX Entry List - Ramudden World RX of Norway 2022. 2022-08-09. FIA World Rallycross Championship. en.
17. Web site: Euro RX1 Champion Marklund returns to World RX at Nürburgring . 2022-11-02 . FIA World Rallycross Championship . en.
18. Web site: RX2e . The drivers test the car ahead of the 2023 season – RX2e . 2023-04-20 . en-US.
19. Web site: Entries revealed for RX2e's season two curtain-raiser. 2022-06-23 . FIA World Rallycross Championship . en.
20. Web site: Catie Munnings joins RX2e field for Höljes' 'Magic Weekend'. 2022-06-18. FIA World Rallycross Championship. en.
21. Web site: FIA World Rallycross Championship . 2022-10-25 . FIA World Rallycross Championship . en.
22. Web site: 2022-09-03. [RX2e-02] RX2e - List of Drivers allowed to Start]. dead. 2022-09-03. 2022-09-03. https://web.archive.org/web/20220903073130/https://chronomoto.hu/images/stories/pdf/onb/rx_2022_04/RX2e_allowed_LVA_2022.pdf.
23. Web site: Olympic skiing hero Svindal to make rallycross debut in Hell. 2022-08-03. FIA World Rallycross Championship. en.
24. Web site: Andersson 'ready to raise the bar' as he signs up to full season of RX2e with KMS. 2022-06-08. FIA World Rallycross Championship. en.