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 |