PREVIEW: 2022 FIA European Rallycross Championship – Spa-Francorchamps, Belgium

Coming off the back of a stunning maiden win in Portugal, Belgium’s Enzo Ide is in prime position to take the final win of the 2022 FIA European Rallycross Championship as the season comes to a close at the legendary Spa-Francorchamps. If he manages to do so, he may leapfrog rival Janis Baumanis to take second-place behind the 2022 champion, Anton Marklund.

To motorsports fans of any discipline, Spa-Francorchamps surely needs no introduction. Fewer people are perhaps aware that, since 2019, it has been a driver’s favourite on the rallycross circuit. In a change for this year, loose gravel has been added to the bottom of the long banked corner, hopefully affording even more overtaking opportunities, as the drivers will have to choose a line and stick with it for the full sweep of the turn.

Ide certainly deserved his win in Montalegre last time out. Having had consistently great pace all year, he has had a string of bad luck. In Portugal, however, everything went right for him. “I kept my head cool and stayed focussed all day, and I was very happy to end the weekend on a high with my first rallycross victory,” Ide explained. When speaking about his team he added “it’s amazing. The EKS guys are a great bunch of people and we’ve been working hard from the beginning. This goes to show that hard work pays off.”

Baumanis certainly has the pace to hold off an attack from Ide, but he too has been unlucky this season, and is now too far from Marklund to deny him a third Euro RX title. Baumanis responded like a gentleman, saying “I was happy for Enzo that he got his first win and happy for Anton that he won the championship. Congratulations to him – we had our share of fights and contact, but he is a very, very worthy champion.” These sentiments will in no way diminish his desire to keep Ide at bay, and also take #YellowSquad‘s first victory of the season.

Baumanis in Montalegre after contact with the barrier. Credit: @World / Red Bull Content Pool

Meanwhile, Marklund will want to finish the season in style. He has had a superb year, thanks in no small part to the SET Promotion team, for whom he is full of praise: “It’s been an awesome year. It’s been a long time since I’ve worked with such good guys – if I ever have, indeed. It’s just amazing. They do everything down to the very smallest detail and have given me the right tools to do the job, and I think we have treated those tools well. I’m extremely lucky.”

All eyes will be on the battle for second place. However, with a whole field of talent chasing them down, and 4 different winners from 5 events, don’t rule out one final twist in this year’s campaign. It’s all to play for as the championship heads to its finale at Spa (08/09 October).

5	Mika LIIMATAINEN	FIN	Betomik Racing Team	FIN	Ford Fiesta
6	Jānis BAUMANIS*	LVA	#YellowSquad	SWE	Peugeot 208
8	Peter HEDSTRÖM	SWE	Hedströms Motorsport	SWE	Volkswagen Polo
10	Mikko IKONEN	FIN	Betomik Racing Team	FIN	Hyundai i20
18	Juha RYTKÖNEN	FIN	Betomik Racing Team	FIN	Hyundai i20
24	Sivert SVARDAL	NOR	Sivert Svardal	NOR	Volkswagen Polo
30	Tom André SAETNAN	NOR	Tom André Saetnan	NOR	Volkswagen Scirocco
31	Stefan KRISTENSSON	SWE	Team Skåab	SWE	Ford Fiesta
33	Ulrik LINNEMANN*	DNK	Linnemann Promotion	DNK	Ford Fiesta
38	Mandie AUGUST*	DEU	ALL-INKL.COM Muennich Motorsport	DEU	SEAT Ibiza
44	Dariusz TOPOLEWSKI*	POL	Oponeo	POL	Ford Fiesta
50	Attila MÓZER*	HUN	Nyirád Motorsport KFT	HUN	Ford Fiesta
55	Paulius PLESKOVAS	LTU	TSK Baltijos Sportas	LTU	Ford Fiesta
67	Frank VALLE	NOR	Frank Valle	NOR	Ford Fiesta
73	Tamás KÁRAI*	HUN	Kárai Motorsport Sportegyesület	HUN	Audi S1
84	Hervé KNAPICK	FRA	Hervé Knapick	FRA	Citroën DS3
88	Marcin GAGACKI*	POL	Oponeo	POL	Ford Fiesta
91	Enzo IDE*	BEL	EKS	SWE	Audi S1
92	Anton MARKLUND*	SWE	SET Promotion	FIN	Hyundai i20

EuroRX1 entry list for the Benelux World RX of Spa