FIA European Rallycross Championship — The New Top Tier
From 2026, the FIA European Rallycross Championship is officially the highest international class of rallycross. The FIA has stated an ambition to reinstate a full World Championship by 2028. Until then, Euro RX is where the trophies are.
The 2026 calendar is six rounds:
- Latvia — Bikernieki, Riga (May 9–10)
- Hungary (May 30–31)
- Sweden — Holjes (July 4–5)
- Ireland — Mondello Park (July 18–19), the first Irish round since 1996
- France — Loheac (Aug 29–30), traditionally the biggest crowd in rallycross
- Portugal — Lousada (Sept 12–13), the season finale
The class structure is brand new for 2026: RX1 supercars on top, then RX3 junior supercars, RX4 (Rally4-spec front-drive cars), and RX5 (Cross Car-spec tube-frame buggies). Thirty cars are entered in RX1 alone for the Latvia opener, with 68 drivers across all classes and 19 nationalities — the deepest top-flight grid in nearly a decade.
Top Teams in Euro RX1 for 2026
Kristoffersson Motorsport (KMS). The defending world champion's family squad, run out of Sweden. Drivers: Johan Kristoffersson and Ole Christian Veiby. Car: the Volkswagen Polo KMS 601 RX. Stepping down from World RX into Euro RX1 makes them an instant title favorite.
Hansen World RX Team. Founded by 1989 European champion Kenneth Hansen and run today by his sons. Timmy Hansen (2019 World champion) and Kevin Hansen are both back in the Peugeot 208 WRX after sitting out the 2025 finale on sponsorship grounds. The same outfit, badged Hansen Motorsport, is also a confirmed RallyX Americas Hypercar partner.
GRX-SET World RX Team. Co-owned by two-time WRC champion Marcus Gronholm. Niclas Gronholm runs the Hyundai i20 RX1 and led much of the 2025 standings before Kristoffersson reeled him in.
JC Raceteknik. Veteran Swedish team led by Joel and Andreas Christoffersson. Campaigns the Audi S1 EKS in Euro RX1 and the FC1-X in RallyX Americas — a genuine two-continent operation.
O'Donovan Racing / Yellow Squad. Family team running the only competitive Proton Iriz RX, built by Mellors Elliot Motorsport. Patrick O'Donovan is the defending 2024 Euro RX1 champion and the son of Irish rallycross legend Ollie O'Donovan.
CE Dealer Team. Volvo Construction Equipment-backed outfit fielding Klara Andersson — the highest-profile woman in top-flight rallycross and the first to score a top-class World RX podium in the electric era.
Olsbergs MSE (OMSE) and SET Promotion. Both confirmed RallyX Americas Hypercar teams. OMSE co-developed the FC1-X with Spain's QEV Technologies. SET is the Italian-led partner of GRX in World RX history.
The drivers and engines behind these teams get the deep-dive treatment in the drivers and cars behind these teams.
FIA Rallycross World Cup — Jakarta, December 2026
The inaugural FIA Rallycross World Cup is a standalone event at the Jakarta International e-Prix Circuit on December 5–6, 2026, run for Euro RX1 internal-combustion supercars. Indonesian promoter SARGA.CO is staging the round — rallycross's first venture into Southeast Asia. Treat it as a one-off World final rather than a championship.
RallyX Americas — North America Rebooted
RallyX Americas, an offshoot of Sweden's RallyX Nordic announced in December 2025, is the first credible international rallycross series on US soil since Americas Rallycross folded in 2019. The 2026 calendar is short and sharp:
- Crandon International Raceway, Wisconsin — June 20–21 (opener)
- Eldora Speedway, Ohio — June 27–28
- Trois-Rivieres, Quebec — Aug 22–23
- Global Final at Montalegre, Portugal — Oct 24–25 (North American champs vs Nordic counterparts)
The headline class is the Hypercar category, running the all-electric First Corner FC1-X inherited from Nitrocross — a roughly 1,000-hp closed-cockpit machine that hits 60 mph in around 1.4 seconds. A combustion Supercar class on the FC2 platform sits below it. On April 9, 2026, the series confirmed Hansen Motorsport, JC Raceteknik, Olsbergs MSE and SET Promotion as founding partner teams. A week later, on April 16, Indianapolis-based Dreyer & Reinbold Racing signed on as official series partner — the first major US-headquartered team to commit.
SCCA RallyCross and Other Grassroots Series
Below the international tiers, North American grassroots rallycross is healthier than people realize. The SCCA RallyCross program runs hundreds of low-cost dirt-lot events every year across the United States, with five tire-and-modification classes ranging from stock front-drive hatchbacks to dedicated rally builds. It is the cheapest legitimate way to put a stopwatch on a real loose-surface lap. The Canadian Association of Rallysport runs an equivalent program north of the border.
For full circuits, look to HellRX — the national series at Lankebanen, Hell, Norway — which keeps the "Rallycross in Hell" name alive even though the international calendar bypasses Norway in 2026.
Legacy Series Worth Knowing
Three names still carry weight in the US conversation. Global Rallycross (GRC) ran 2011–2017 and put rallycross on ESPN screens during the X Games era. Americas Rallycross (ARX) followed in 2018–2019 with manufacturer support from Subaru and Volkswagen. Nitro Rallycross / Nitrocross launched in 2021 under Travis Pastrana and pioneered the FC1-X electric hypercar before quietly shutting down in October 2024. The chassis and the talent rolled forward into RallyX Americas.
What to Watch in 2026
Three storylines to bookmark. One: can anyone keep Kristoffersson honest, or does Euro RX become a coronation? Two: will the FC1-X hypercars survive the jump to Crandon's hard-packed dirt — a fundamentally different surface from the Nitrocross stadium tracks? Three: does the Jakarta World Cup justify a permanent World Championship return in 2028?
Catch the running answers in our April 2026 World RX highlights, and head back to the Rallycross In Hell home when you need a refresher.