For many of the cars and stars of RallyX, the return to Höghedens Motorstadion in Älvsbyn this weekend is a homecoming. The Swedish round of the international championship represents the home round for a large group of top drivers and event organizers, and will serve not only as the middle event of the RallyX North championship, but also the fifth of seven RallyX events overall this year.
Älvsbyn’s transitions between pavement and dirt are some of the most interesting on the calendar, including multiple tarmac hairpins that are bordered by gravel straightaways in and out. Last year, Maiko Tamm and Joni Turpeinen split the Open 4WD victories in Sweden; only Simon Tiger in Open 2WD and Hampus Hägstrom in CrossCar Junior could manage weekend sweeps.
Tamm enters the weekend as the Open 4WD points leader in RallyX North thanks to podiums in both rounds in Bikernieki and a win two weekends ago at Finland’s long-awaited KymiRing circuit. His 78 points are 20 clear of Anton Seppa, his closest competition on this weekend’s entry list, who also leads the Open 4WD Pro Am standings by 14 points. Meanwhile, after establishing himself as a driver to beat in Open 2WD at Montalegre and Valkenswaard, Viktor Johansson established a 15-point lead in the North 2WD standings with his win at KymiRing.
Latvia’s Roberts Vitols continues to lead the Supercar Lites points in RallyX North, holding an eight-point advantage over Lukas Andersson thanks in large part to his sweep of his home event. But Andersson enters Älvsbyn as one of its defending Lites winners, and he’s also on a two-race runner-up streak this season. Hägstrom has also moved up into the class, where he’ll look to convert his CrossCar Junior success into his first podium of the North season.
In CrossCar, Martin Juga’s consistency—three podiums in three North rounds—has given him a 10-point lead over Vetle Try, 11 points over Armin Raag despite his sweep in Latvia, and 16 points in hand on teammate and Finland winner Romet Tsirna. The CrossCar Junior battle, meanwhile, is the closest of all; Peetu Piira and Carl Svedlund each have three podiums, but Piira’s two wins to Svedlund’s one gives Piira the two-point advantage.
Live streaming of RallyX action from Höghedens Motorstadion in Älvsbyn will kick off at 12:35PM CET (6:35AM ET) on Saturday and Sunday and can be seen live via the RallyX YouTube channel. Following Älvsbyn, RallyX returns to action on August 2-3 in Nysum, Denmark, a mainstay of the championship since 2017.