🔴 Qualifying 1 LIVE | Euro RX of France 2026

The fastest lap, then it goes to Fabro, 42.0, so Fabro, as Hal said, has got great pace, but that's going to go away now because they're behind Enland. This, Christopherson, he's in the box seat as always, but Hal, this isn't going to be the ultimate time because of the traffic. Nibbling away at the rear bumper. Fabro's got to go joker for me, he does, that releases Johan, but can Fabro do anything now to cover off Enland? I think they're close enough, I think Enland will end up dropping down here, where's Tepainen though? Tepainen versus Fabro, Tepainen around the outside line, as Jonny Tepainen pulled a bit of a blinder here while we're watching the cars out front. It's going to be inside! Tepainen might end up beat too, but Fabro goes around the outside in second to last corner. Tepainen's got the position, he gets the nose out in the wet, Fabro looks inside. No room though this time, Christopherson still behind Enland, water flows up over the screen, tries to find a way through. Now Christopherson surely, Enland has to go joker here, Johan's going to come out wide, give himself the best possible exit. This is a brilliant drive by Martin Enland as well, the pace of these drivers in this run is so much quicker than we've seen before, they're all deep into the 42s. Is that track conditions Hal, or the rain has stopped? The rain has stopped, yeah, so maybe it's just drying out a bit, we said it would be super random today. Christopherson through the second to last corner, this will be the quickest time. Target time at the minute is 3.00 by Bakkerud, and he's going to go some 6 seconds quicker, 2.53.8, he has gone more than 6 seconds quicker than Andreas Bakkerud. Wow, so 41.4 on the final lap as well. And that was in traffic Hal, but the question is, who can go quicker later in the session? So late in the session up, we've got still to come Fabian Payer yesterday, very nearly equaled Johan. Johan Christopherson gets it, 2.53.8, Enland for Pro, how many of them are going to be ahead Hal? Was Turenne, 3.01.8, all of them except for Turenne, so Turenne goes in P7, the top four starting for the top four overall here. You can see that, look at Turenne down in P7, so yes, some quick drivers in this, but yes, the rain has stopped. And the start-finish straight, Hal, is already looking drier. Dry is a relative term. Let's have a look back at the first corner here, this is Topainen getting forced out wide. He did a good job to recover from that, and then was flying out of our shot. You saw Christopherson going round the outside of Julian Fabreau, just riding on board, and I would like to see that again from the right, from the pre-start, and then hopefully we can do that at some point when we've got a bit of time. Fabreau splashing his way through the puddles, this is the joker merge between Topainen and Fabreau. Fabreau trying to hang on around the outside, all that loose dirt's having washed out there on the exit, and you just can't make it work like we saw earlier on. That was a good run from Martin Ellen, fair play to the Swede, that's what he needed, and he always goes well in the wet as well, doesn't he? Very on top of the car. So patient, Christopherson. We said that yesterday, didn't we? I think they're complaining about the towing eye at this point. Yeah, but why do they need the towing eye? So Christopherson's just gone fastest. The engine's still running, Hal. Isn't it? What on earth has happened here? So Christopherson, seemingly from the onboard, the engine is running, but for whatever reason, it is. I wonder if it's possible for us to see a replay of him crossing the finish line when we watch this recovery. If there's a replay of him at the end of the final lap and then him crossing the line, just so we can see what he did in the car. Well, he reached down as soon as he crossed the line, but that's not unusual, is it? Switch off the anti-lag, but... See, if you can dig it out in the truck, guys, as Hal said, it'd be good to see him on any onboard after the finish. Try and figure out what's happened. Thumbs up. The one thing here with the French Championship, we've got 160-plus cars. There is a massive break now. I'm not particularly concerned, and Johan certainly isn't concerned about getting it sorted, does he? No. He's changed Han's device as well, recently. He used to use the harness. Okay, Matt Soman on the inside. An absolute legend. Fabien Paillet was within two-tenths of a second yesterday of Chris Dobson. Then it's Juha Rüttgenen in the middle of the grid, Sebastian Loeb and Anton Sepper. Loeb, the nine-time World Rally Champion back in Rallycross. Rüttgenen, we know, is quick. Sepper hasn't had a brilliant year. We're just telling somebody not to touch the plugs next to us. We've been off air once already. Okay. Can Loeb get away well? He told me yesterday the starts have been pretty tricky. Oh, Omen jumps on the inside, but he managed to stop it before he got there. Rüttgenen gets it to turn one first. Loeb's going to get P2. Paillet stops at the third. Loeb round the outside and Rüttgenen to the inside. He's lost none of his talent as the inner Rallycross car. Listen to the crowd. They're getting goosebumps. There's a massive cheer for Sebastian Loeb. Rüttgenen looking back on the inside line but can't quite get there. Will he go Joker in response? Fabien doesn't either. Sepper goes. Sensible from Sepper. Get yourself out of that melee. Omen, I think, has gone as well in the background. Has he? Loeb there just eking away from Rüttgenen. It's part of the lap. Loeb yesterday was quick, wasn't he, Hal? I said to him, I said, oh, is it nice to be back at P2 in the first session? He goes to me, yeah. He said, you know, I'm used to being second to Johan. I laughed about it. He leads Rüttgenen here. Sebastian Loeb passed his lap. That's not the start. 41.4. That's the same lap time as Christophsen did on his final lap last time around. OK, Loeb. They might be able to get this done if the conditions are improving. And, Hal, we've got another 10 cars to come after this. Some of those people are going to be quicken up. Could see backward a long, long way down, though. Into the Joker that goes Fabien Payet. Say, yesterday, he was the closest man to Christophsen yesterday. I think it was 0 point, what was it, 0.16, I think it was. He was off the back. No, less than that, 0.0. Ah, close. Payet was really close, wasn't he, in FP2. It was Loeb that went closest to Christophsen in FP1. A 40.9 this time around. Fastest lap of the session for the rally legend, Sebastian Loeb. These are perfect conditions for him. All he needs now is Danny and Alain alongside, telling him what cars are coming up. Luckily, Loeb acts pretty simple. I think he's working today. Yeah, he's got it. Doesn't need the extra weight. But he's so good to see the legend back. And he's on really good form. Yesterday, there were people running alongside the truck. One guy holding up a 306 Maxi model for him to sign. People were high-fiving and they were chanting, Loeb, Loeb, as he came through the town. Hugely, hugely popular here. He is the home hero. And at the minute, he's doing the home hero job. Everybody's joking now except for Sebastian Loeb. On board with Payet, you could really see the compression there. There's a lot of standing water that's now dissipated off the circuit. But I'm really struggling to see where Christophsen had two and a half seconds in lap time over Baccarin. Yes, the track's quicker. But it's not nearly three seconds quicker. But there was a lot more water. You know when you get suction in puddles? Has it just been sucked into the heavy water? Little nip on the handbrake. Now he's onto the gears, over the crest. He'll pop the kerb on the left and the right. It's super smooth. Again, he's patient. Has he been too patient? Routgenen round the outside. Sebastian Loeb. Routgenen's on the throttle too early. Loeb's going to try and shut the door. Routgenen's got the nose up the inside. Loeb gives him enough room. Just Routgenen gets in front of Sebastian Loeb. The final corner now. He's sideways. Loeb will look to the inside for the line. But Routgenen takes it. Is it quicker? 2.51.9. Yes, it is. Loeb's quicker too. And Fabian Paillet. Wow, top three go ahead of Johan Christophersen. Oh, wow. Look at the glint in Sebastian's eye. I think he of course wanted to win it. But who doesn't enjoy driving a rallycross supercar? That was why we said yesterday, good memories for the champion at Du Monde. You know, the World Rallycross Championship and how much fun he'd had in it. Juha Routgenen was very fair there at the Joker Merge. They gave each other good racing room. Loeb tried to go around the outside in the penultimate corner. He's given a lot of feedback on the radio. Had a lot of it already. I asked him yesterday as well, why are you in Jakarta? What do you want to do in Jakarta? He goes, it's an FIA World Cup, isn't it? With a big smile on his face. And this will be filling him full of confidence to think, yeah, come on then. I'll have a crack at it. So he's entered. Let's see. Wouldn't it be great if Christophersen enters and we see two 17 World Championships between them going for an FIA World Cup as well. Kevin Hansen's in, of course, the current World Cup holder for Extreme 8. So, yeah, it could be a fun one. But we've still got Lowiak and Lusada to deal with. Routgenen leads. Fantastic performance by him to take it just in the Joker. Did he have a better Joker or was Loeb just a little bit too cautious in that one? And that, if Routgenen were to win the session, it would be his first qualifying win of the year. But with two races still to come and potentially track conditions getting better. Brilliant launch, as we've seen all season long from the SEP promotion car. A bit cautious on the inside. Had to get the SCAR. Stopped that a little bit more. Loeb carrying the pace around the outside. We ride on board with the nine-time World Rally champion. And for the majority of that one, it really looked like it was Loeb's to lose. Routgenen, though, did a brilliant job. And this is what I mean by the respect. Got right up on the kerb. Loeb left just enough room. Had a little bit of contact in the left hand. Oh, this is riding on board with Juha. Look, he gets right up on the kerb, not to have contact. Proper rally cross. They just gave each other enough room. Bit of contact, fair enough. Loeb's on the inside, desperately trying to find a way through. Routgenen, no. Good job. He leads the session, then. We have two races still to go. For me, there are a couple of drivers in here which will, in these last two races, which can threaten. And the obvious one, of course, is Osi Webe. There's a real opportunity in this one, isn't it? Massively. Rappos on the inside, then Webe. And across the grid, Murray, Pucic and Karay. This is Owen Murray's debut in the European Rallycross Championship in the Honda. I'd say Pucic and Karay. Don't count Karay out either. Karay's quick, but Webe's lap times might give us an indicator of if he is still getting quicker. Now, you can see that it's actually raining again now, only lightly. It is. There's a drizzle coming in sideways. Rappos with a banger of a start on the inside. Karay, though, around the outside line, going to shut the door on him. Not enough room. Karay goes round. Up the inside. Everybody goes. Just avoided by Pucic in the background. So Taras Karay with a great start, but didn't do what they did in the last race, how they didn't leave enough space. Murray looking to the inside of Webe. Oh, it's quite a clench for... on behalf of Murray there in a foreign supercar when you come next to someone who's just dropped it. Karay kept the throttle in, just was unlucky. Rappos has been so good this year, hasn't he? The young Norwegian. Yeah, and that car, Harry, is not the same as everybody else's, is it, by any means. It's a good car, but it's very impressive, the performance that he's put in. Built by David Norgard's team. It's based on a Rally 2 Fiesta, but with a lot of adaptions. Theo and Murray will be wondering what's going on here, chasing one of the top three drivers of the European Championships. Multiple winner at world or X level. Murray's got the fastest lap. Oh, he looks up the inside of Webe. Webe taking alternate line, trying to find a better exit. Webe has found traction through the puddle. Rappos loses out. Webe comes through. Owen Murray round the outside. Surely Rappos goes joking from the inside line there. He doesn't. I would have done that. I'd have gone then. Oh, it's tight through there for two cars as well, through T4. Murray's still on the outside, trying to find the grip. Rappos, though, hugging the inside line. This is some performance from Owen Murray, but... It's brilliant. He does pale from Ireland, where the Irish Rallycross Championship runs in these kind of conditions almost every weekend through the winter. It runs through winter, doesn't it? Not that he had any experience in a supercar in the Irish Championship, but the Murray Motorsport team, very experienced. Owen used to race in British touring cars quite some time ago. Now he's more focused on the management of his team and online store and stuff, but, yeah, great performance. Looking inside, going late on the brakes as Rappos is in him and he dodges the nose back. Great awareness again. It's okay. Murray goes to the Joker. Good call. If I were Rappos, I'd have gone on the previous lap because you'd compromised Murray and pushed him out wide. I think you should have gone a lap earlier. Butchick's close here. Yeah, Butchick's close to Murray. He's run deep though. Murray might get there. He's shut the door, and he does. Again, Murray and John McCluskey who's racing in the British Championship within the French Series this weekend tested here, but in over 35 degree heat a few weeks ago, and that doesn't really give you any indication as to what the track's going to be like in these conditions. Oh, baby clips that puddle. You saw it move in the car around in the braking area. What are the lap times, Hal? What are the lap times? 40.9 last time around. 40.9 for Baby. And what's the quick? We'll have to wait for time to update. 40.9 was the quickest so far. So, track conditions have been very similar. Ramos comes out. Baby with that fast lap again. Ramos comes out. The Jovan will hold the position. So, Baby could be on for the top of the standings here. 251.9 over the line. Here he comes. No, not going to get it. 252.4. He wasn't consistently quick enough. He did the quick lap, but P3 lobed ahead of him. Lobe and Richmond have done those much more consistently. But to me, Hal, the straight looks wetter again. You see what I mean, don't you? Yeah, yeah. We're looking for commentary here as you see Coray come round. And the rain's coming in. It's not as hard as it was earlier, but it's like a light drizzle again. It's so hard to tell here. Is it mistakes? Is it track conditions? You know, what's changing through the session? I think Murray's gone quicker than Yannick Dupain. And Andreas Bakker, He's going to be made up with that, isn't he? Bakker's down below 11th or 12th somewhere. Yeah. OK. So Vaby takes it. 252.4. Then it's Rapos, Murray, Puchik and Coray. And then we're going to see in a moment just where they slot in. So you see Rutger and Lee from Lobe. Vaby slots into P3. Baig, Christophsson, Enland, Sepper for Brough. Rapos slots into P9. Owen Murray into P10. Andreas Bakker outside that top 10. This was Coray Halp. He didn't leave quite enough space. And it's hard when you're looking across. But yeah, you just have that little bit of contact. Get rotated. And yeah, really, well, in all his experience, he'll have had the throttle absolutely bailed. But the rear's gone too far. And you can't defy physics at that point, can you? When the rear's overtaking the front like that. This is the puddle that Rapos went through. That's what I was wondering. You know, we said earlier, where is the lap time? You know, look at the suction when you go through deep water and the car gets pulled back. And they were going through deeper water in these last two corners. There was standing water on the inside line. Yeah. Think of the pictures of oh, baby again. That's what you said, wasn't it? Just a quick paddle, puddle clip on the inside. Paddle in a puddle. We're having a paddle in a puddle up here. Actually, the water in... No, it is still as deep as it was. I think my shoes have absorbed most of the water. Yeah. It's about an inch deep in the commentary box. Final race then of Q1. Rennie Moonick, Ollie O'Donovan, Patrick O'Donovan, Laszlo Kiss, and Mandy Augustin is missing from the grid. Can't see her in the pre-grid either. You can see she's on the out. Yeah, she's not there. So Mandy Augustin's not taking part in this one. Patrick and Ollie can play nice here. Laszlo's in that brand new super car. Rennie Moonick on the inside. Plenty of experience. So we will see. Patrick is the threat here in terms of the session for me as the European rally. Shut the door, gives a big squeeze to Moonick. Patrick behind his dad. Patrick will look to the outside, gives his dad a big hit through Turn 1. Rennie Moonick coming around the outside, but there's not enough grip out there in the dirt and he loses out to Laszlo Kiss. Rennie, the most recent winner here of a Euro-X round back in 2021, drops to the back of the order. O'Donovan, Patrick Jokers for the first time asking. That's all really David Mansfield, his spotter, could do. I know Sam Clunnell working on the spotting as well, together with Dave Mansfield this weekend, working on the strategy, a bit frustrated in Mondello Park with how the semifinals ended. Laszlo Kiss, though, super, super impressive to bring a brand new supercar to this championship as a privateer team in Hungary. Excited to see how that goes. These conditions are not the sort of conditions where you can really gauge how good or not that car might be. Of course, they're going to be working on the development of it as well as they race it through each event. O'Donovan into the rear of Kiss, who doesn't joke about it, it's not what Patrick O'Donovan needed in terms of the lap times. And there's 42.6 Ferrari on lap one. Lap one's hard to read here, isn't it? They arguably get a better run into lap one than they do out of the last corner of the start line when they cross the loop. What I mean really is lap one's actually quite valid. O'Donovan's looking to the inside of Kiss in the background, mid-corner in the final turn of that lap but just couldn't get the traction. So difficult because you carry all of that momentum up through the outside of the final turn and over the line. I think O'Donovan's got this if he can have a nice clean and tidy Joker. He's doing 41.7s, Hal, which would be enough to see him inside the top ten definitely. I'm waiting for the timing screen to scroll back. Goes into the Joker now, Swally O'Donovan. Watch for Laszlo Kiss on the outside. Patrick Joker ready. No, Wally's not going to get there. I think those two are going to be in front. Patrick's going to get him. So Patrick's got Dad. René to the inside. O'Donovan clicks the two bollards on the inside. Does the German driver. Mooney's got the quick hand as well, Hal. 41.7s. Yeah. I mean, they could go top six here, but Patrick, I think, could have done better without the traffic. Going down to the start, isn't it? He didn't get the best of the start. Softly away from the line and then you're fighting hard, aren't you? Kiss, though, staying out. Hasn't helped his cause at all. So Kiss goes in. Patrick out. The mud being dragged onto that back straight, all new tarmac down there as well. Down to the end of the straight. Can Olly or René get past Glasgow Kiss as well? Oh, he's on the throttle early, but Olly gets on the gas as well and slots in just in front. Good driving for both there. Kiss knew he was there. Waits to shut the door. Patrick O'Donovan coming around the final corner. The fast time. René's gone. But a high position could be up for grabs. 254.9. We'll see him where, Hal, about P5. Behind Christophsen. So P6 just ahead of Martin Enlund. 55.5 for Olly. Will also put him ahead of Enlund. So they're 6th and 7th for two O'Donovans. Kiss goes 8th, actually. Enlund tumbles down a little bit. Blimey. In terms of the championship, it is definitely swayed towards Christophsen in his opening qualifier, hasn't it? Back road tumbling down the order. There's confirmation of the result from the final race, though. Yeah. Patrick O'Donovan from Olly O'Donovan. Son from dad. Juha Rukkinen takes the session and that is his first session win of the year. So he wins his first qualifying session. 2026 from Sebastian Lowe. P2 for the French legend at home. Baby. Fabien Payet for the French as well. Christophsen. Good job in probably not the best conditions. Problem with his car. Will they get it sorted? Enlund. Sepp. Fabro. Fantastic in P8. Raphos. P9. Owen Murray. P10. And then Tepain in back road. 12th. Fucic. Patruska. Terrain. Janssen. P20. Not the return he was hoping for. So look at this last race. This is where it unfolded to a degree for Patrick O'Donovan just not getting the launch. Olly gave a much better start there. Kish getting up the inside of Munich. Munich giving lots of room on the outside of Turn 2 as he so often does. It was Munich who claimed victory as I think I mentioned during the race here. Last time you were at RX was in Lowyat back in 2021. Kish with the new cone. Pippo engine there which is different to what KMS run. O'Donovan's getting to the front of the order after the joke of strategy though. Patrick driving to the line. Looks so greasy. I think maybe the track's just gone into this horrible greasy phase as well where that mud's been dragged into the tarmac sections more than it might do otherwise. So Rukkinen leads them with 50 qualifying points from Sebastian Lowe. Then it's OC, Vaby and Fabian Pye as you say. Chris Jobson in P5. That'll be the top race of the day. So Donovan, O'Donovan, Laszlo Kiss to make more sense later on today when you get more of the various sessions in there. These aren't championship points. They're qualifying points. Puts the drivers in orders ready for the quarterfinals. There we go then. What a, what a session. We literally, I've done the big hi and welcome like, you know, welcome. It's going to be such a great day and then and you hear it go off. I look down, all the lights were dead. All the screens were gone. The cameras were off. TV lights were off. I'm like, ah, we've got a cameraman there. So I said to James, get hold of the truck. Tell him we're dead. They knew already. We're on the phone. All the rest of these guys here, guys and girls, cloudy on the camera. Done a brilliant job. The rain was pouring off the shelter in here. Apologies. We know it wasn't perfectly technical. You did an amazing job, mate, coming up here with your earpiece in wild. What a session, mate. Yeah. It's hard to dissect, really, isn't it? Just looking at the timing screen, the positions are all over the shop, but we haven't seen bundles of action, have we? It's just where the tracks evolve, where the drivers have struggled maybe a little bit in different areas. The standing water's come and gone. So I don't feel disappointed, but I feel like we just haven't had a proper read yet. Q1 is always a little bit like that. But one advantage we have today is we do have time to go into the paddock. So we have four hours today in between sessions. I can't remember what time we're on. 3.30 or something. But we can go back into it. Here we go. I don't need to. And I was bang on. 3.30. Yes, Coley. Euro RX3 Q2 coming up later with Euro RX1 Q2 to follow. So 3.30, we're going to come back. And then 5.50, remember, that's for you. We've got a few hours now to get out in the paddock and go and find out what happened. Was it the track? Was it the drivers? We'll let you know. See you at 3.30. Thank you for your patience with the weather. Cheers, guys.