The second half of the 2019 FIA World Rallycross Championship season begins this weekend at the legendary Holjes circuit for the Swecon World RX of Sweden.

A lot has happened in the first five rounds of the year. Heading to ‘The Magic Weekend’ talking points include:

‘THE’ Natural Jump

Jumps are common in the modern era of rallycross, but calved into the Swedish earth at Holjes is the biggest and most famous jump of the season. Drivers enter the jump section after the fastest part of the circuit, flat in sixth gear down hill before a fast right hander and over the jump, before braking for the final corner. Many an overtaking move has been seen here and more can be expected this weekend.

Hansens Home Championship Battle

Sweden’s Timmy and Kevin Hansen will start their home round of the World RX calendar this weekend first and second in the points. Kevin Hansen managed to get his season back on track last time in Norway by finishing second, after missing the final in Belgium and Great Britain, but Timmy Hansen lost ground. He still holds the lead, but only one point ahead of his brother.

The Scene of Bakkerud’s First Win

Monster Energy RX Cartel’s Andreas Bakkerud is desperate to win a World RX final again. It’s been a long wait since Argentina 2016 and he has come close so far this year. In 2013, Bakkerud took his first Supercar victory at Holjes in a Citroen DS3 and was so happy with the result that he threw his race boots into the crowd, only to be told off by his mum afterwards!

Mega Entry

It’s a maximum World RX entry of 25 cars for Holjes RX, with plenty of talking points. 2018 Euro RX Supercar Champion Reinis Nitiss joins GRX for another wildcard start, Olsbergs MSE is back with Ford Fiestas for Kevin and Sebastian Eriksson and the team will also run a Honda Civic Supercar in World RX for the first time for Ulrik Linnemann. Finland’s Jari Kalliokoski joins Team STARD for the weekend and the Euro RX Supercar and Super1600 line ups are also bulging. See here.

Abbring Attack

Netherlands’ Kevin Abbring starred on his World RX debut in Norway with the ESmotorsport Labas-GAS team, by showing impressive race craft for a driver more used to rallying and then leading the final in wet conditions. With a race under his belt with the Skoda Fabia Supercar, like Reinis Nitiss in the GRX Hyundai i20, there could be surprises in Sweden.

Happy Street

In some ways, Holjes RX is like the Monaco of Formula 1. It’s one of the must do events for both fans and drivers. But you can forget the million dollar yachts, champagne on ice and super cars as far as the eye can see. At Holjes and up the road known as Happy Street adjacent to the circuit, it’s more about a gathering of motorsport fans, camping out in the woods, partying into the night and watching fantastic rallycross action. The atmosphere is electric, it’s everything Monaco isn’t and that’s why we love it.