The dual-surface discipline was duly born at Lydden Hill in the UK on 4 February, 1967, going on to quickly become a staple of Saturday afternoon sports broadcasts in the country. What’s more, rallycross soon spread beyond British shores, with the first event on the European mainland taking place in the Netherlands in 1969, and Scandinavia following suit with its own maiden rallycross meeting in Sweden two years later.
Rapidly growing in popularity across the continent, the new sport spawned a European Championship in 1973, with John Taylor prevailing in the inaugural season. The series was formally adopted by the FIA in 1976 when Franz Wurz – father of future Formula 1 driver, Alex Wurz – was crowned champion. The FIA European Rallycross Championship would remain the pinnacle of the discipline for the next three-and-a-half decades.
Between 1989 and 2008, Kenneth Hansen re-wrote history time and again with no fewer than 14 title triumphs – a record unlikely ever to be beaten. Six years later, the FIA granted World Championship status to the sport, making it at the time one of only four series to benefit from such an elite standing. Thus, World RX came into being.