In 2021 Nitro Rallycross really kicked off in a big way, setting up a five-race season across the United States, and grabbed some pretty big names from global motorsport. It was a fairly short season, kicking off in September and running through early December, so it was nice and easy to knock out, and allowed NASCAR talent like Chase Elliot and Kyle Busch to come compete for a round or two. That run laid the foundation for a 2022-23 extended season to run during most championships’ off seasons, and now it’s twice as many races happening in six times as many countries!
2022–23 NITRO RALLYCROSS CHAMPIONSHIP SCHEDULE*
June 18-19, 2022 // England (Lydden Hill Race Circuit)
July 30-31, 2022 // Sweden
August 27-28, 2022 // Finland
October 1-2, 2022 // Minneapolis, USA
October 29-30, 2022 // Los Angeles, USA
November 12-13, 2022 // Phoenix, USA
December 10-11, 2022 // Saudi Arabia
January 21-22, 2023 // Quebec, Canada
February 4-5, 2023 // Alberta, Canada
March TBA, 2023 // Nitro RX 2022-23 Series Finale // TBA, USA
(*Subject to change)
As part of this massive increase in rounds, the series is branching out into different disciplines of rallycross. Obviously one of the coolest things on the calendar is a return of international rallycross to Lydden Hill over in England. That circuit combines dirt and tarmac, and remains a legendary spot in the sport. There will also be stadium rounds, snow and ice rounds, and more. It should be a properly awesome series of events.
At the top tier of Nitro Rallycross is the new Group E class, which will be an all-electric exhibition for the new FC1-X racer to flex its 1070 horsepower on track. The FC1-X, shown above, is a joint venture between QEV Technologies and Nitro RX to develop a super powerful electric machine that can handle all of the stuff a rallycross would throw at it. Allegedly it’ll run from 0-60 in just 1.4 seconds, even on dirt!
“The FC1-X blew my mind straight out the box, not only from a performance point of view but also with its toughness given the amount of laps we could do on a frozen lake up north in Sweden,” said Andreas Bakkerud, who sampled the new vehicle in demo sessions at Race of Champions. “The car itself is very promising to drive, loads of power – just like us rallycross drivers like it. It’s going be a blast going head to head with this new car and to see which team can first find that little detail in performance gain for the first few races.”
Alongside Group E, the Supercar class will again make a return, giving the world the classic battles between Subarus, Audis, Peugeots, Fords, Hondas, Hyundais, and more! According to the series, there is a long list of stars from F1, NASCAR, IndyCar, MotoGP and others that want to come participate in Nitro RX as a one-off entry. That should go over well with the fans.
Travis Pastrana, series founder and 2021 champion, is no dummy. He’s really smart when it comes to development and growth of an international brand. I hope that he can do for rally in North America what he has done for everything else he has touched in the last two decades.
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