The
all-electric FIA World Rallycross Championship returns to South Africa for the
first time in four years this weekend (7-8 October), with motorsport’s most
spectacular discipline set to thrill fans at Cape Town’s Killarney
International Raceway.
The
last time World RX visited the ‘Rainbow Nation’, spectators were treated to
arguably the most memorable moment in the championship’s history, as Timmy
Hansen and Andreas Bakkerud went doorhandle-to-doorhandle for title glory,
clashing on the first lap of the final and ending up tied on points – with
Hansen prevailing on countback.
The
2019 champion will be back at Killarney – in the shadow of Table Mountain – this
weekend, as he bids to close the gap to championship-leading countryman Johan
Kristoffersson, winner of the opening three rounds of the current campaign.
The
World Championship has been on hold since the unfortunate incident at Lydden
Hill just over two months ago, but with the season now resuming using the electric
ZEROID X1 cars, the battle is back on with a vengeance.
It
also means that for the first time in World RX history, there will be a
completely level playing field, as all competitors take to the track in equal
machinery – placing the emphasis firmly on skill behind the wheel and
engineering expertise to extract the very last thousandth-of-a-second.
Six
of the drivers in the field have already sampled the ZEROID X1 through guest outings
in the FIA RX2e Championship during the summer. Kristoffersson won the RX2e
event at Mettet in Belgium, and went unbeaten in Cape Town in 2017 and 2018 –
on both occasions, having already clinched the coveted crown.
This
time, the fight for honours is still very much alive, and while the Volkswagen
Dealerteam BAUHAUS star will arrive in the ‘Mother City’ holding a 27-point
advantage at the summit of the standings, his rivals are firmly focussed on
chasing him down – with a bumper haul of points up for grabs in the first
double-header of the campaign.
Just
12 points blanket the next six drivers in the classification. CE Dealer Team’s
Niclas Grönholm is Kristoffersson’s closest challenger – and the winner of the
2019 event in South Africa – while Kevin Hansen sits third for Hansen World RX
Team, with the Swede’s driving style well-attuned to the characteristics of the
ZEROID X1 following his successful stint in RX Lites earlier in his career.
Kristoffersson
and Grönholm’s respective team-mates Ole Christian Veiby and Klara Andersson
are similarly well in the mix, although both will be discovering Killarney for
the first time, while double DTM champion Timo Scheider is a former participant
in the gruelling Cape Epic mountain bike race in Cape Town. The German reached
the final at Killarney in two of his three previous appearances, and will be joined at
ALL-INKL.COM Münnich Motorsport by Euro RX1 event-winner, René Münnich.
The electrifying action will
begin at 09:00 local time Saturday (7 October), with every session to be
broadcast live on the pioneering new Rally.TV platform. Monthly and annual
subscriptions can be purchased here,
while tickets are available to buy here or
on the gate.
The
full event timetable and entry list can be found here.
To watch the event trailer video, click here.