Münnich looks forward to testing himself against the best in World RX.

PHOTO CREDIT: FIA World Rallycross Media. 

Rene Münnich, the owner and team manager of ALL-INKL.COM Münnich Motorsport, will contest another full-time FIA World Rallycross Championship for the first time since 2016. However, the German entrepreneur is by no means an unknown name in the motorsport fraternity. 

Having made his debut in 2005 in the German Autocross Championship, he entered the ADAC Procar series as well as the European Rallycross Division 1A in 2007. Subsequently, he claimed the German Rallycross Championship in 2007, 2009, 2010, and 2011. 

In 2012 – 2016, he raced in the World Touring Car Championship, whilst also competing in the 2014 Blancpain Sprint Series and the 2015 TCR International Series. 

In 2011, he entered the Supercar division of the FIA European Rallycross Championship. For the 2012 and 2013 season, he raced in the Super1600 category, and in 2014, 2017 and 2018, he again competed in the supercar category. 

At the same time, he also started competing in the FIA World Rallycross Championship in 2014, completing two full seasons in 2015 and 2016. 

Evidently, it is very clear that Münnich is a truly busy person. Apart from owning companies, managing racing teams, he himself carries the passion to race. 

Since 2013, Münnich Motorsport has had several wins in both the World Touring Car Championship, as well as the FIA World Rallycross Championship. Having previously signed the likes of Robert Huff, Gianni Morbidelli, Sabine Schmitz, and James Thompson in Touring Cars, well-known Rallycross drivers like Tommy Rustad and Reinis Nitiss have also raced with his teams previously. 

Two-time DTM champion, Timo Scheider has also been a frequent name with the team since 2015 and in 2020, the German will once again race in a full season. 

"I’m glad to be back in the FIA World Rallycross Championship, joining Timo in our two-car team. Last year the racing in World RX was very competitive and we produced some solid results," Münnich said. "We expect the same high level of close racing this season and I am personally looking forward to testing myself against the best drivers in the sport once again."

In addition to taking part in the 2020 season, ALL-INKL.COM Muennich Motorsport is also committed to the electric future of world rallycross.

"We welcome the plans for the FIA World Rallycross Championship to phase in electrification from 2021 and we are making plans to be part of this exciting future,” he added. 

Written By: Franco Theron and Junaid Samodien

In conversation with Timo Scheider ahead of the 2020 World RX season.

PHOTO CREDIT: FIA World Rallycross.

Timo Scheider joined the FIA World Rallycross Championship in 2015 and immediately impressed upon his full-time debut at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya in 2017. The Rallycross bug had evidently bit the German racer hard as he will compete in his sixth World RX season, this time alongside team owner, Rene Münnich. 

Scheider was quick to show his love for Rallycross, stating that general paddock life and way of racing as the reasoning behind this passion for the sport. Coming from circuit racing background (DTM), the driving style in World RX tends to differ and while both racing formats create a form of adrenalin, it does tend to differ. 

“It’s the best feeling you can have when you have to handle such a strong car on different surfaces” Scheider mentioned. 

After 16-years and two championships (in 2008 and 2009 with Audi) in the DTM series, Scheider started his full-time campaign in the FIA World Rallycross Championship. In only his first race, Scheider managed to put pressure on another former DTM- and newly crowned, WRX champion, Mattias Ekström. 

Starting from the second row of the grid, Timo passed the stagnant Johan Kristoffersson and then Andreas Bakkerud for second-place. Outpacing the latter, both Ekström and Scheider jokered on lap 2 to exit just in front of Bakkerud and the chasing pack. To be able to do this on debut, as well as to finish right on the rear wing of the newly crowned champion, showed the world what he was capable of. 

Scheider’s second true showcase came in 2018, competing in the ARX at Silverstone. With a flipped bonnet and impaired vision, he finished the race only 0.57 seconds behind Patrick Sandell in second. 

In 2019, the German did well, recording a final race appearance at Yas Marina, Silverstone, and Killarney (South Africa). He also recorded semi-final appearances at the Circuit de Catalunya, Spa Francorchamps, Hell, Trois-Rivieres, Loheac, and Riga. This meant that he only missed out on a single finals’ appearance throughout the whole season. 

PHOTO CREDIT: Junaid Samodien/Slipstream SA

Joining forces with Rene Münnich, 2020 is set to be a very exciting year for the team. 

Speaking to Timo Scheider ahead of the 2020 season, the German champion explained his ambitions for the 2020 season. “I need to be on the podium. This is a clear target for 2020”, he mentioned as his first ambition from the year. 

Having stood on the WRX podium and just missing out on several occasions, the Münnich Motorsport driver certainly proved his worth in 2019 and will undoubtedly come into the 2020 season with valuable lessons learnt. 

Having a teammate for 2020 will also help with a much quicker car setup and track analysis than before. Whereas Timo previously used the 4 heats to set up his car for the finals, a combined input from his teammate should help to set up the car much quicker. 

Scheider is also confident that the 2020 car will be stronger, stating that the team engineer spent time on the previous weak areas. 

Whilst most of the World is currently still under partial lockdown due to the COVID-19 virus, Scheider mentioned that he is spending the time with his two boys and wife at home. 

Talking about what he is most looking forward to in 2020, Scheider quickly mentioned his anticipation for the first line up with his competitors, sending it into turn one (whichever track it might be). 

The German is clearly very anxious to kick off the 2020 season and we can certainly not wait to see the ALL-INKL.com Muennich Motorsport team in action. 

Written By: Franco Theron and Junaid Samodien

Leclerc impresses in virtual Rallycross debut.

PHOTO CREDIT: FIA World Rallycross Media.

Ferrari Formula 1 driver Charles Leclerc impressed on his World Rallycross Esports Series debut at the Yas Marina Circuit over the weekend. 

Whilst the world is slowly returning to normal following stay at home orders due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, many professional drivers took to sim racing and Esports to entertain their fans.

Charles Leclerc is one of many real-world racers who took to sim racing like a duck to water streaming Formula 1 races, lawnmower racing, truck simulator driving, and over the weekend he made his rallycross debut.

It was an eventful debut for Leclerc who was involved in multiple incidents throughout the qualifying stages battling his way in-and-out of traffic, as well as rolling his car in Q3, to taking a race win in wet conditions in the fourth qualifier, but unfortunately, he was unable to progress to the semi-finals after finishing twelfth in the intermediate classification.  

Whilst he missed out on a place in the semi-finals, his shire speed came to the fore in the fourth qualifying race. The rain came and he showed pure speed from lights out. And, despite Henrik Krogstad crossing the line first, Leclerc was declared the race winner after Krogstad was awarded a jump-start penalty.

Following the fourth qualifying race, Leclerc admitted: “In the rain, I am quite good. While in the dry [conditions] I am struggling but not massively compared to the others.”

In the build-up to the FIA World Rallycross Championship Esports Series, Charles practiced with the Dall’olmo brothers. Killian Dall’olmo is the reigning DiRT Rally 2.0 World Series Rallycross Champion, while his older brother Quentin Dall’olmo won the Abu Dhabi Sim Racers eSports event this past weekend. 

Speaking after the race about Charles Leclerc’s performance, Quentin said: “We did few races before the event and for the first time on the game he [Leclerc] was really good but sadly he had no chance with a lot of contact with the other drivers. But if he does the next round with more training he could have a really good result.”

Supercars star Shane van Gisbergen (event winner) was an unstoppable force in the series opener in Abu Dhabi, with 2019 World RX Champion Timmy Hansen and Henrik Krogstad rounding out the podium. While Kevin Hansen had the pace but after a few incidents he finished the final in fifth place. 

Kevin believes that Leclerc had the potential to make it into the finals, but was involved in too many incidents.

“I think he [Charles Leclerc] has the potential to be in the finals. It was a shame that some drivers took him out during the races,” Kevin Hansen said.  

World Rallycross commentator Andrew Coley was also quite impressed by Charles Leclerc’s performance on debut.

“To me, it was clear [Charles] Leclerc had put the laps in, he had the pace. But he was really unlucky at the start, quite often through no fault of his own. It can happen in real life too, for instance, an unlucky Q1 draw can be hard to recover from. But to me, he looked fast, and as I understand it he enjoyed it.”

Charles Leclerc training with World RX driver Matvey Furazhkin

Footage Supplied By: FIA World Rallycross Media.

Getting up to speed in a virtual RX Supercar came quite quickly for both van Gisbergen and Leclerc. Coley said that he'd love to see Leclerc and Van Gisbergen get a test in rallycross. 

“I’d love to see him [Leclerc] and Van Gisbergen have a test in real life, and then to see the smile on their face when they get out of the car!” Coley said.

“But in the meantime the more they’d like to enter WorldRX’s Esports the better, I’m really grateful for their time, and I know the fans are too.”

Speaking after the qualifying races, Leclerc admitted that his virtual rallycross debut was very cool. “It was fun! Hopefully, I can do the next event,” he said.

The FIA World Rallycross Esports Series will return on 21 June 2020 in Hell, Norway. 

Van Gisbergen returns for FIA World RX Esports Invitational Series.

PHOTO CREDIT: Red Bull Content Pool. 

2016 Supercars champion Shane van Gisbergen will return to the FIA Rallycross Championship Esports Invitational Series at the Yas Marina Circuit this Sunday. 

On his virtual rallycross debut in Portugal last time out, van Gisbergen claimed a podium finish despite multiple spins and incidents including a collision with Mattias Adielsson on the opening lap of the final. 

“It was definitely fun to do my first World RX Esports race in Portugal, I always watch World Rallycross on TV so it was pretty cool to be a part of it racing all those guys and I went a lot better than what I thought I would,” he said. “My goal was to make the semis but I didn’t think that would be possible given how fast everyone was, but I had some good luck in the races and had a couple of qualifying wins which really helped me.”

 

The New Zealander has previous experience of racing at the Abu Dhabi circuit when the Australian V8 Supercars last raced at Yas Marina in 2012. 

Whilst he might have experience around the Yas Marina circuit; the purpose-built 1.2-kilometer rallycross circuit poses its own unique challenges with long straights and tight turns that aren’t forgiving. 

Van Gisbergen has already begun testing for the opening round of the FIA World Rallycross Championship Esport Invitational Series.

“I did some laps at Abu Dhabi a couple of days ago actually, it’s a pretty long track, quite tough and technical,” Van Gisbergen said. “I actually raced there a couple of times a few years ago in V8 Supercars, so it’s quite cool to be racing on the rallycross version, so it should be a bit of fun. I had a really good response from the rallycross (Esports event in Portugal) so hopefully, everyone enjoyed watching it and this weekend hopefully we can do the same again.”

The driver line-up has been confirmed for the first event include FIA World Rallycross Champion Timmy Hansen, World RX racers, and esports regulars Oliver Bennett, Timo Scheider and Kevin Hansen along with rising star Rokas Baciuska. Former Ferrari F1 driver Mika Salo and Supercars Star Shane Van Gisbergen returns for there second rallycross outing. 

A host of new entrants will make their virtual rallycross debut this Sunday, namely: drifting and stunt driver Tessa Whittock, RX2 racer Fraser McConnell, the 2019 GT Masters Champion Kelvin van der Linde, Australian Supercars driver Scott Pye, GT star Tom Blomqvist and WTCR racer Esteban Guerrieri. 

French World Rallycross round cancelled

PHOTO CREDIT: FIA World Rallycross Media

The French round of the FIA World Rallycross Championship at Lohéac has been cancelled due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

Lohéac was provisionally scheduled to host the second out of the 2020 World RX championship on 5-6 September. 

However, the French round has now been cancelled due to the restrictions imposed by the French government ban on mass events until 31 August due to the continuing health problems due to the Coronavirus (COVID-19). 

“This decision was made after careful consideration and consultation with the FIA, the promoter of the championship IMG, the French ASN (FFSA), and the Sports Association of Rallycross de Lohéac,” the event organizers statement read. 

“The health and safety of all those involved remain the priority. A number of options have been explored in the hope of keeping the event, but unfortunately, it is not possible logistically to apply the social distancing measures required on this site, and no other date is available.”

“We would like to thank our volunteers, fans, public for their continued support and will address the economic challenges that this creates for racing teams, drivers, partners, and suppliers. We will come back even stronger in 2021.”

It remains unclear how the cancellation of the French round will affect the revised 2020 calendar set to begin on 20-23 August in Höljes, Sweden. 

The revised 2020 FIA World Rallycross Championship calendar:

Sweden, Holjes | 20 – 23 August

France, Loheac  | 04 – 06 September - NOW CANCELLED

Riga-Latvia, Riga | 18 -20 September

Benelux, Spa-Francorchamps | 2 – 4 October

Portugal, Montalgere | 9 – 11 October

Barcelona-Catalunya, Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya |16 – 18 October

Abu Dhabi, Yas Marina | 29 – 31 October [Two Rounds at the same venue]

Germany, Nurburgring |11 – 13 December

UPDATED: Cape Town postponed as the World Rallycross Championship trims 2020 calendar.

PHOTO CREDIT: FIA World Rallycross Media. 

The South African round of the World Rallycross Championship has been postponed following the release of the provisional nine-round calendar for the 2020 season.

Killarney International Raceway joined the World RX roster in 2017, and was originally planned to host round eleven of the 2020 season on November 14-15. However, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the calendar required some revision which necessitated the need to push the event out by one year.

World RX promoters, IMG has emphasized that the postponement of the Cape Town RX is no reflection on the high quality of the World Rallycross events run at the Killarney International Raceway in the previous years.

The provisional 2020 calendar will see the season start in Sweden on August 20-23 before traversing Europe for seven rounds, with two taking place outside of Europe in the form of a double-header in Abu Dhabi.

With the provisional calendar being condensed into 21 weeks, the lengthy sea-freight logistics to and from South Africa has made it difficult to add the long-haul event into the condensed schedule.

“The 2020 World Rallycross of South Africa has not been canceled but instead postponed to the 2021 season; the two-year extension agreed in 2019 between IMG, local organizer Worldsport South Africa and the City of Cape Town will thus take place in 2021 and 2022,” Killarney International Raceway’s statement said.

Clerk of the Course Arlene Brown has also pointed out that this is probably for the best given that our health authorities are predicting that the COVID-19 pandemic will only peak in about September.

“We will just have to keep our excitement at bay until 2021,” Brown said.

World RX of South Africa promoters, WorldSport SA has expressed their support of the decision.

"We believe the postponement of the Cape Town race is in the best interests of the health of all stakeholders, participants, and spectators – their well-being remains our top priority," Bruce Parker-Forsyth, CEO of WorldSport South Africa said. "Though we’re disappointed that we won’t be able to enjoy the excitement up close this year we’ll soon announce new and exciting changes to ensure 2021 offers a better and more spectator-friendly race weekend.”

Written By - Junaid Samodien