When drivers take on the rallycross challenge
Three FIA World champions have competed in the FIA World Rallycross Championship since its inception in 2014. Sebastien Loeb will be the fourth.
While Petter Solberg (2003 WRC winner and 2014-15 World Rallycross champion) has won both World RX titles that have been held to date, Jacques Villeneuve (1997 F1) was less successful in his 2014 campaign. The Canadian struggled to adapt to the mixed-surface discipline, missed events due to clashing commitments and pulled out prior to the final round.
Yvan Muller (WTCC 2008, 2010, 2011, 2013) made his World RX debut in France last year but failed to make the semi-finals after being pushed off in a heat race.
World champions aside, double DTM title-holder Mattias Ekstrom has won twice in Sweden at Holjes. Gymkhana, rally and rallycross star Ken Block raced in 2014 and finished on the podium in Norway. The American will contest a full season this year.
WRC podium finisher Henning Solberg has made regular appearances in a range of cars, while fellow rally man Gigi Galli debuted a Kia Rio at the end of 2015.
Manfred Stohl contested a full season with World RX Team Austria last year, as did double JWRC champion PG Andersson with the Marklund Motorsport squad.
Double British Rally champion Guy Wilks contested a pair of events in a JRM Racing Mini and made the final at Lydden Hill, while another DTM champion, Timo Scheider, made his World RX debut with Munnich Motorsport in Spain last year.
The 2013 British Touring Car champion Andrew Jordan finished on the podium at his home event, Lydden Hill, in 2014 with Olsbergs MSE, and has raced twice since for Peugeot-hansen and EKS.
American Tanner Foust won in Finland 2014, and X Games stars Danny Way and the late Dave Mirra raced at Hockenheim in a pair of Minis last year.
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Defending National Navigation Trial champions Pakie Duffy and Evin Hughes took their third win of the season to clinch the titles for the second year in succession, with Hughes taking his third crown.
After a tricky, high-scoring 80-mile route based on Maudabawn, they had two marks to spare over Mickey and Ciaran Tynan, with Martin Tynan and Fintan Clerkin taking third place, completing another clean sweep for Subaru Imprezas.
Best of the two-wheel-drive crews were Richard Cassidy and Paul Phelan in their Vauxhall Vectra, in fourth place, followed by semi-expert winners Eoghan Corr/ Ruaidhri Nash.
Best novices Aidan Sherry/ Oisin Sherlock were seventh overall, with the top Beginners, the father-and-son pairing of Philip and Conor Smith, 10th. Last year’s winners Dermot Whelton and Mark Mccarthy started the event with an outside chance of taking the championship. However, a difficult night left them down in ninth position, with their title hopes dashed.