iRacing Rallycross World Championship Brands Hatch

The iRacing IRX rallycross world championship moves on to its next round at Brands Hatch. Be sure to check out and support these great drivers and event.

Mention Rallycross in sim racing and the top tier in the world in iRacing stands above them all, the IRX rallycross world championship really is the best of the best. Next up is Brands Hatch.

World Championship

Just like in 2020, Subaru Motorsports USA’s Jon Robertson has taken early command of the championship thanks to an early season visit to the winner’s circle in Atlanta.

The difference between this year and last, though, is that unlike his heartbreaking runner-up finish last season, he’s got no intention of giving it up again; if that wasn’t apparent enough in Atlanta, his second straight event of winning the main event from the pole last week at Iowa should have made it plainly obvious.

Brands Hatch is new to the World Championship stage, though, and so the only reference anyone has at a comparable level is the fixed-setup All-Star Invitational race from the spring.

There, it was Robertson’s teammate Yohann Harth beating him across the finish line, with SET Esports’ Tommi Hallman completing the podium.

Nine of the 10 racers in that feature made it to the World Championship, including a quartet of rookies: Hansen Williams Esports’ Jarno Leskinen, Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing’s Kevin Ellis Jr., Vermont SportsCar’s Jakob Rafoss, and Logitech G Altus Esports’ Luis Nunez.

Yokohama Pole Award: Robertson became the first repeat Yokohama Pole Award winner of the season with last week’s top time at Iowa. Only he and Daytona pole winner Jonne Ollikainen of SET Esports have posted the fastest time trial lap so far in 2021.

DirtFish Rookie of the Year: Thanks to a second place finish in Iowa, the first podium of his iRX career, Ellis took over the lead in the 2021 DirtFish Rookie of the Year standings from Leskinen.

The 2021 DirtFish Rookie of the Year will receive a complimentary Three Day course from DirtFish, the Official Rallying School of iRacing Rallycross. To sign up and get behind the wheel yourself, visit drive.dirtfish.com.

Most Improved Driver: Even after missing the final at Iowa, Elliott Sadler eSports’ Vicente Salas remains fourth in points, an improvement of 16 positions from his 2020 rank. That’s twice as many spots gained from last year as his closest rival, SET Esports Team GRX’s Killian Dall’olmo.

Hard Charger: As of last week, five drivers have surpassed the 20-position mark in the season-long Hard Charger Award standings.

Team Yokohama’s Thomas Wangen has gained at least six overall positions from his qualifying spot in every race thus far, and leads the charts by a 28-26 margin over Loenbro Motorsports’ Tommi Nukarinen.

All-Star Invitational

For the first time this season, a sim racer took top honors in the All-Star Invitational event last week, with eNASCAR Coca-Cola iRacing Series star Casey Kirwan running head and shoulders above the field in Iowa even as the heat and feature grids were fully inverted.

The invited entry list for this week’s visit to Brands Hatch is below; entries are subject to change:

No.	Driver	Car	Background
03	Keenan Kusan \| @MrAeroHD	Subaru	Twitch partner
10	Daniel Gray \| @DanielGray10	Ford	Twitch partner
13	Trevor Perry \| @PuckVanek	Subaru	Twitch partner
15	Zac Campbell \| @ZacCampbell02	Subaru	Porsche TAG Heuer Esports Supercup
28	Ron Capps	VW	NHRA Camping World Series
28	Connor Barry	Subaru	Great American Short Course
42	Parker Retzlaff	Subaru	ARCA Menards Series
49	Jamie Fluke \| @JamieFluke	Subaru	Porsche TAG Heuer Esports Supercup
53	Justin Melillo	Subaru	eNASCAR journalist, Traxion.GG
56	Borja Zazo \| @BorjaZazo	TBD	Twitch partner
64	Tim Stevens	Subaru	Roadshow editor-in-chief
72	Trever Teal \| @NitroCircus	Subaru	Nitro Circus
75	Landon Huffman \| @HuffmanLive	Subaru	NASCAR Camping World Truck Series
77	Parker Kligerman	Subaru	NASCAR Cup Series
77	Luke Knupp	Subaru	Best in the Desert
99	Robby Lyons	Subaru	NASCAR Xfinity Series
360	Craig Williams \| @CraigSetupShop	VW	Twitch partner
504	Pablo López \| @GoProLopez	Ford	Twitch partner
920	Tyson Meier \| @Quirkitized	Subaru	Twitch partner