Round eight of the 2016 FIA World Rallycross Championship, the World RX of France, will take place on the first weekend in September and the entry lists for the Supercars and the fourth round of the FIA European Super1600 Rallycross Championship have been released.
The iconic French circuit of Loheac will play host to 38 Supercar entries, which sees a large contingent of FIA Euro RX competitors joining the World RX regulars as they take the opportunity to remain in action as round five of the 2016 FIA European Rallycross Championship for Supercars takes place at the Barcelona Grand Prix circuit a fortnight later.
In the World RX entry, JRM World RX will return to the series after parting ways with Liam Doran after the World RX of Sweden. The Daventry based team announced last week that they have signed French free-cycling champion Guerlain Chicherit joining the team for three events in France, Spain and Germany at the wheel of their 2.0 litre turbocharged BMW Mini.
With Kevin Eriksson on duty for OlsbergsMSE in the RallyX Nordic Championship (where the young Swedish driver is closing on the 2016 title in) the team have drafted in French driver Yann Le Jossec in the second Ford Fiesta. Earlier this week Lithuanian driver Nerijus Naujokaitis announced that he will make his World RX debut in a brand new Skoda Fabia Supercar ahead of a possible full season assault on the series in 2017. The Entry list for the World RX event can be found here.
FIA Euro RX Championship leader Kevin Hansen will return to Supercar action at Loheac in the Peugeot-Hansen Academy 208. Credit: IMG/McKlein
Peugeot-Hansen Academy will be out in force at its second home event on the calendar with Kevin Hansen, Davy Jeanney and Fredrik Salsten on duty in their Peugeot 208 WRX Supercars whilst Albatec Racing have confirmed that their trio of Peugeot 208 RX Supercars will be competing with Andy Scott, Tommy Rustad and French RX regular Philippe Maloigne all in action.
The regular Euro RX competitors taking part in the French Classic include Ollie O’Donovan, Derek Tohill, Michael de Keersmaecker, Tamas Karai and Max Pucher as they look to gain further mileage before the next round of the series whilst Ole Christian Veiby returns in a Volkswagen Polo run by Kristoffersson Motorsport.
There will also be a strong contingent of French Rallycross Championship drivers taking part as they look for glory on home ground against the World RX regulars. Female driver Adeline Sangnier has make her World RX debut at the wheel of a privately run Peugeot 207 whilst French Championship challenger Fabien Chanoine will challenge for honours in his Renault Clio.
Hervé “Knapick” Lemonnier will run two of his Citroen DS3 Supercars as Multiple Andros Trophy champion Jean-Philippe Dayraut joins the French legends team for this event. Jean-Baptiste Dubourg returns to the scene of his maiden World RX podium from 2015 in the teams new for 2016 Citroen DS3 whilst Patrick Guillerme and Pascal Le Nouvel complete the lineup.
Ulrik Linnemann leads the FIA European Super1600 Rallycross Championship (Credit: Johnny Loix/Linnemann Motorsport)
The fourth round of the FIA European Super1600 Rallycross Championship sees Ulrik Linnemann leading the Drivers Championship by one point in his Linnemann Motorsport Peugeot 208 from Krisztian Szabo in his Skoda Fabia after the last round in Sweden. Set Promotions Timur Shigabutdinov lies in third place, only nine points behind Szabo whilst team-mate Artis Baumanis is looking to make up ground in the title race from fourth place.
French RX regular Andrea Dubourg will swap the family run Citroen DS3 Supercar for the Tedak Racing Renault Clio as he joins the Super1600 ranks for his home round along with Fabien Grosset-Janin will make his EuroRX debut in a Suzuki Swift. The Entry list for Super1600’s can be found here.
The World RX of France takes place on 2-4 September.
