The provisional 2021 British Rallycross Championship 5 Nations Trophy calendar has been announced. A 6 event, 7 round calendar will include a trip to Spa Francorchamps as the season finale.
The season will kick off at the end of May at Lydden Hill with 2 rounds across the May Bank Holiday weekend. Round 1 will take place on Saturday 29th and round 2 on Monday 31st. The series will then cross to Mondello Park in Ireland for round 3 on July 10th and 11th. The series will support the Irish rallycross championship for the first time since 2017. Pembrey then takes the August Bank Holiday weekend slot that has traditionally been held by Lydden Hill. Knockhill returns to the calendar after 7 years away in September. Lydden Hill will then again host a round under floodlights after using them at last month’s event. The season finale will then take place at Spa Francorchamps, the home of World Rallycross in Belgium.
The whole of the 2020 season took place at Lydden Hill after travel restrictions prevented racing elsewhere. The season opener took place in August as the first rallycross event in the UK after the first nationwide lockdown. A rescheduled calendar saw 4 events at 4 circuits but this was replaced by a double header round at Lydden Hill. The season finale was set to take place in January but this was cancelled last month. Mark Donnelly won the series in his first year in the championship with 2 race wins.
This year’s calendar is set to be the first time since 2008 that the season finale hasn’t been held in the UK. Back then Lawrence Gibson secured his last title, and the last for a Group B vehicle. Mondello Park hasn’t hosted a British round since 2017 when Julian Godfrey won twice. Godfrey also won the last event at Knockhill back in 2014.
Image Credit: Overtake Motorsport
The 2021 calendar sees no clashes with the World Rallycross Championship with the season finale taking place 1 week after the World championship concludes. 2 rounds do clash with Extreme E which means Oliver Bennett will be unable to compete full time. Most drivers are set to return to competition next year. Godfrey and Hill should be back with their trusted machinery. Ollie O’Donovan will race with a brand new Proton Iriz. Mike Sellar and Tristan Ovenden are set for another campaign after running their cars in a full season for the first time. Robert Vitols will get one round behind the wheel of a Supercar as prize for winning the Super 1600 category.
The Supercar category will hold 7 rounds across the 6 weekends. The number of rounds for support categories are yet to be announced. It is expected they will only race alongside the main category with some double header rounds. Before Spa Francorchamps’s round was announced, a stand alone event was expected for the secondary categories. Each round is of course subject to it being able to be run safely in the face of the ongoing pandemic. Lydden Hill is in prime position to replace any rounds as they did this year. The series still has elite status as a sport and could even host a round during the latest lockdown. However, the decision has sensibly been made to not hold any rounds until May. The BTRDA season opener will take place on the second weekend of May at Lydden Hill. All winter rallycross events have been cancelled.
Provisional 2021 calendar
May 29/31 – Lydden Hill – Round 1/2
July 10/11 – Mondello Park – Round 3
August 29/30 – Pembrey – Round 4
September 25/26 – Knockhill – Round 5
November 6/7 – Lydden Hill – Round 6
December 4/5 – Spa Francorchamps – Round 7
Feature Image Credit: Overtake Motorsport
