Mondello proves rallycross still has a home in Ireland
Hannah Kate Costello at Mondello Park
By the time the final race was run at Mondello Park on Sunday, July 20th, it was clear this weekend had been something more than a motorsport event.
The dust has settled, the engines have cooled, and the people who spent the weekend pushing themselves and their machines to the limit are standing around in the paddock in a kind of joint sigh, not quite ready to leave. That was Mondello Park at the close of the FIA European Rallycross Championship this weekend.
James Deane came to Mondello as a drifter making his rallycross debut. He left with a second-place trophy.
For a man who had never competed in the discipline before this weekend, four laps of practice before qualifying began, six cars on track instead of the two he is used to, the result was, by his own assessment, better than he had any right to expect.
"To be on the podium is better than I could have hoped," he said. "I learned more things every single lap that I did."
The 34-year-old has spent years at the top of professional drifting, a five-time Formula Drift champion, building a following of hundreds of thousands across social media, standing on an all-Cork podium in Connecticut in front of 17,000 American fans a few weeks ago.
The drift fans came with him. "The support from the Irish fans was amazing," he said. "Even this weekend, seeing so many people wearing drifting merchandise — a lot of the drift audience came to support rallycross."
A crossover audience, curious to see what one of their own would make of a completely different discipline. They were not disappointed. Deane is comfortable when a car is going sideways. It turns out rallycross cars do a lot of going sideways.
But will he be back?
"Drifting is still where my full focus is right now," he said. "But it's definitely going to be sticking in my mind. I don't think I'll be drifting forever. It's aggressive. It's exciting. You need to push hard, you need to take chances. Never say never. I think we'll be back for sure."
Johan Kristoffersson, who came third in his category, had a weekend of two halves.
On Saturday, he found himself before the stewards over a black flag incident, but Sunday was a different story. He and his teammate came home with a double podium finish, second and third to their rival Andreas Bakkerud, who went home with the top prize.
Kristoffersson had broken the circuit lap record on his very first timed run of the weekend. "The car is fast, and I enjoy these tracks," he says. The starts and launches he has been refining all weekend will be sharper at the next round in six weeks. As for the stewards: "I'm looking forward to come back here next time and hopefully I will not get them involved that much."
His father, who raced at Mondello over 30 years ago, spent this weekend as his son's spotter, watching the final from the sides of the circuit.
James Nixon has worked in rallycross for three decades. As the FIA's category manager for Off-Road and Hill Climb, he has seen the sport through its peaks, through Covid, and more recently the championship's experiment with fully electric cars. Introduced in 2022, it ended this season after failing to win over many drivers, engineers and fans.
He watched this weekend with the particular attention of someone who has long-term stakes in what it means.
"The paddock is full. We have a lot of internal combustion cars on the grid, the fans are enjoying it, the drivers are enjoying it," he says. "The vibe around the weekend has changed completely in one season."
While he wasn't ready to discuss attendance figures, he said for a first-year event at a new venue in a market that has been dormant for 30 years, Mondello has given the championship something to build on. "You can't expect a miracle in the first weekend," he says.
"But they've got something very strong to build on. And then in 2027, it's a different beast – you know what you're promoting."
There is a three-year deal in place between the FIA and Mondello Park.
Seven Irish drivers competed in the top Supercar class - seven wildcards, equalling the number of local entries at the Scandinavian rounds that have historically been the heartland of the sport. Some of them reached the semi-finals of a European championship. "They should be proud of that," Nixon says. "Hopefully it inspires more juniors."
