PREVIEW: 2022 FIA European Rallycross Championship – Montalegre, Portugal

Anton Marklund could seal his second FIA European Rallycross Championship title with a round to spare the Lusorecursos World RX of Portugal (17/18 September). The Swedish driver has a comfortable lead over his main rival, the luckless Janis Baumanis, who needs to outscore Marklund by at least 7 points to have a hope of winning the title.

If Marklund wins the event on Sunday 18 September, there is nothing his rivals will be able to do. The SET Promotion driver has been the dominant force this season, winning the first two rounds, and narrowly missing out on victory in the subsequent two. Crucially, neither of the other winners this year have been permanent entries in the championship. Norway’s Andreas Bakkerud secured a very popular home win in Hell in round three, and his compatriot Sondre Evjen produced a stunning display in the wet last time out in Latvia to secure a fantastic win. Having beaten Marklund off the line, he coped brilliantly with the pressure being heaped upon him by the Swede, keeping his cool and defending his position to claim the win.

These performances, while meaning he was beaten on the day, have meant that Marklund’s main rivals have been kept at bay. Belgium’s Enzo Ide has demonstrated stunning pace at times this year, frequently being in the mix for the top positions at various points over race weekends but ultimately failing to deliver when it mattered. Baumanis, driving for #YellowSquad, has had appalling luck and consequently has never really got his title campaign underway, despite being second in the championship.

Baumanis may have been flying in Latvia, but his string of rotten luck means he has a mountain to climb. Credit: @World / Red Bull Content Pool

In round four of the championship at the Biķernieki circuit in Latvia, Baumanis showed great pace throughout the weekend, but suffered a freak intercooler issue during the semi-final, meaning he did not progress to the final. Team manager Eric Färén expressed disappointment at this turn of events, saying “Until the technical issue happened in the lead of the semi-final, we had a very solid weekend. We struggled a little to find the last tiny bit of pace, but Janis had some very good race wins in the heats. The intercooler problem was just a freak thing, we have never seen that happen in all the years Hansen Motorsport has run this setup in World RX on the Peugeot 208, so it is just one of those things.”

While it may well be “just one of those things,” the simple fact is that Marklund has not suffered any major reliability issues so far this season. He has been able to deliver when it counts in a car that seems perfectly set up for him, and consistently scores a large number of points. For anyone to stop him taking the crown for the second time, there needs to be a major change of fortunes.

The Lusorecursos World RX of Portugal takes place on 17/18 September.

2	Oliver O’DONOVAN	IRL	Oliver O’Donovan	IRL	Proton Iriz
6	Jānis BAUMANIS*	LVA	#YellowSquad	SWE	Peugeot 208
24	Sivert SVARDAL	NOR	Sivert Svardal	NOR	Volkswagen Polo
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
67	Frank VALLE	NOR	Frank Valle	NOR	Ford Fiesta
73	Tamás KÁRAI*	HUN	Kárai Motorsport Sportegyesület	HUN	Audi S1
75	Mário BARBOSA	PRT	Mário Barbosa	PRT	Citroën DS3
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
110	José OLIVEIRA	PRT	José Oliveira	PRT	Peugeot 208

The Euro RX1 entry list for the Lusorecursos World RX of Portugal