World Rallycross’ return to Lydden Hill after a five year absence at the end of July should have been a glorious return to the spiritual home of the discipline in its new electric era.
However on the Friday morning of the event, disaster struck: a huge fire broke out Sébastian Loeb’s Lancia Delta-themed World Rallycross team garage, engulfing both cars and all its equipment.
Thankfully no-one was injured, but the fire – thought to originate from one of the cars’ batteries – has had a devastating effect on the championship. As well as all top class World RX running being cancelled at Lydden, the same was done in the following Belgian and German rounds.
The future of the class is unclear, whether it will return with the current electric cars or a new electric solution, but the paddock still has high hopes, as frontrunner Kevin Hansen explains. The two-time World RX event winner describes the shock of one the biggest disasters ever to hit the sport, but also emphasises how the championship is determined to get back on track before the year is out.
“The facts are that on arriving at Lydden Hill on July 21 (exactly a month to the day that I write this) we were busy preparing for the sixth round of the FIA World Rallycross Championship. It felt good to be back at the ‘birthplace of rallycross’ and I was looking forward to a strong weekend for the Hansen WRX team – we were expecting a large crowd after an absence of five years to this iconic track. We had several VIP guests from our sponsors and our partners, with Lydden to be the start of a tight month of races with three European rounds in four weeks.
Then, out of nowhere, there was a sudden explosion at 8.42 am. It felt like a pressure release and a dramatic fire in the awning of the Special ONE Racing team soon appeared. It was shocking in its unexpectedness.
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