First season of Euro RX5 set to showcase sport’s rising stars

The FIA has long been committed to nurturing the sport’s next generation, and investing in young talent is one of the governing body’s major focuses in its efforts to ensure elite rallycross thrives well into the future. 

Adopting the same technical specification as the FIA European Cross Car Championship, Euro RX5 offers an accessible entry route for competitors embarking upon their international careers in the dual-surface discipline.

With 14 full-season entrants and one ‘wild card’ due to take to the track at every round, the inaugural intake includes a host of highly-regarded racers. No fewer than eight different nationalities will be represented in the Latvian curtain-raising contest next month – including home hero, Roberts Purmalis, who at just 16 will be the youngest driver on the grid. 

Four of his rivals are only slightly older at 17 – indeed, the average age across the field is barely 20-years-old – and they will head into battle in a range of different machinery, from Ligier and Lifelive to Speedcar and Semog.

What’s more, with permanent entries lodged by the likes of Volland Racing, Eleven Motorsport, Korda Racing and Kárai Motorsport Sportegyesület, there are a number of teams in the fray with a wider involvement further up the FIA rallycross pyramid. 

THE CONTENDERS FOR THE CROWN

Britain’s Benjamin Bartlett was a top three overall finisher in the Motorsport UK Cross Car Championship in 2025, while Germany’s Tim Braumüller did even better in the ADAC XC Cup, adding a second series trophy to the one he had clinched three years earlier.

Former French Junior Rallycross Champion Valentin Comte wound up third in the FIA European Cross Car Championship in 2023 and joins Braumüller at Volland Racing, with another Frenchman in the form of Marin Le Jossec set to partner Bartlett in Eleven Motorsport’s line-up.

Hungary’s Ottó Horváth prevailed in the Semog XC RX Cup on the domestic stage last season, simultaneously making his international rallycross bow on home soil at Nyirád in Euro RX1. 

Martin Juga is one of three Estonians in the mix, and arrives with an impressive reputation as a national champion in rallycross and Crosskart Rallysprint. Compatriots Marko Muru and Armin Raag boast similarly eye-catching résumés. The former has triumphed on multiple occasions on the Estonian, Baltic and Latvian-Lithuanian scene, while the latter is a Crosskart title-winner in both Estonia and the FIA North European Zone (NEZ).

Domonkos Kovács is the younger brother of Euro RX3 front-runner, Sámuel Kovács, and Diego Martínez González arrives with a strong pedigree at Spanish and international level – having twice scooped the runner-up spoils in the FIA’s Junior Cross Car category.

Bryan Neumeyer won the ADAC XC Cup in 2023, prior to finishing second in the Senior category 12 months later. The 17-year-old has also achieved success in the FIA European Junior Cross Car Championship and placed fourth in the 2024 edition of the FIA Motorsport Games.

Add in challenges from rapid French brothers Paolo and Flavio Martins as well as Marek Mičík – the Czech teenager benefitting from the guidance of ex-European Autocross Champion, Aleš Fučík – and the scene is irrefutably set for a compelling campaign of Euro RX5 competition.

Following the opening round at Rīga’s historic Biķernieku trase on 9-10 May, protagonists will lock horns at Nyirád in Hungary (30-31 May), Höljes in Sweden (4-5 July) and Mondello Park in Ireland (18-19 July) ahead of a high-stakes, double-header season finale at Lousada in Portugal, where the category’s very first champion will be celebrated on 12-13 September.