World Rallycross returns to Lydden Hill
New electric World RX cars will compete at the birthplace of rallycross, Lydden Hill, as it rejoins the calendar after a six-year absence
Short format is a perfect match for electric power. But will the spectacle match the halcyon past?
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The World Rallycross Championship makes a welcome return to the sport’s birthplace in July for its first visit to Lydden Hill in six years.
The fourth round of the 2023 championship will take place on July 22-23 at the Kent venue, where rallycross was created specifically for ITV’s Saturday afternoon World of Sport show in February 1967. Vic Elford starred in the first event, driving a Porsche 911.
The return of the global series to Lydden for the first time since 2017 will offer British rallycross fans their first chance to witness the new breed of electric-powered RX machines, around which the series was relaunched last year. Five-time world champion Johan Kristoffersson led the standings after the second round in Hell, Norway, in his Volkswagen RX1e. His rivals include Niclas Grönholm, son of two-time World Rally Champion Marcus, brothers Kevin and Timmy Hansen and nine-time WRC king Sébastien Loeb, who is racing a Lancia Delta Evo-e RX.
Minis in the mud, in the days when TV execs couldn’t get enough of rallycross
Alamy
World RX’s new electric racers have maintained the short-form sport’s reputation for spectacular, frenetic action, while also proving a fertile platform for a new generation of female racers. Swede Klara Andersson is fourth in RX, while fellow Extreme E racers Mikaela Åhlin-Kottulinsky and Cristina Gutiérrez are also finding their feet on the scene.
The Lydden meeting will also feature a round for the top (and more traditionally-powered) Supercar class of the British championship, while a selection of Group B and historic cars will hark back to the sport’s halcyon 1980s.
The event will also mark World RX’s return to Britain for the first time since 2019, the second of two seasons when the series switched its UK round to Silverstone. Lydden, as the spiritual home of rallycross, is a better fit.