At the penultimate round of the FIA European Rallycross Championship for 2022 at Montalegre in Portugal, Swedish driver Anton Marklund and SET Promotion secured the Euro RX1 championship title.
 
The team entered the weekend with a healthy lead in the standings, but had a difficult opening day, with a start issue in Heat 1 meaning Marklund had to fight through the pack in the first race of the event, before contact from another driver when racing for the win in Heat 2 sent the Hyundai i20 RX1 into a spin.
 
An amazing save from Marklund ensured he finished P2 in the session, by just over a second, despite spinning through 180 degrees on track, before the Swede set the fastest time in Heat 3 on Sunday morning.
 
But, despite making it to the final in the competitive field the SET team didn’t have an outright advantage, and Marklund lost out in the first corner, getting forced wide to the outside of turn one.
 
Managing the race situation, Marklund came home fourth and despite it being only the second time in five races that he did not stand on the podium, the position was enough to secure his third Euro RX Championship crown, with still the final round of the season to take place at Spa-Francorchamps in Belgium next month.
 
Marklund’s crown also marks the tenth title in Euro RX history for the SET Promotion team, run by Finnish brothers Jussi and Kalle Pinomäki.
 
Anton Marklund (SWE) #92:
 
“To be honest, it’s a big, big relief to win the title here. There was a lot of people telling me that I am already the champion before coming here but I have been in motorsport too long to take a victory like that for granted. We just tried to stay focused. This has been one of the tougher weekends for us, we didn’t really get it to work like we know we can, and we also had some action on track, so it has been really tough. Then to go through turn one in the final and the steering wheel got blocked and we were coming out last – let’s say it was a bit nerve-wracking inside the car, but it’s an amazing feeling to win the championship here with a race to go. Together with SET and my guys – Adam, Johan and Laurent, it’s really been a pleasure to be working with everyone this year. I am usually a bit of a control freak, wanting to see what’s going on with the car and all that, if there is a problem or not, but as soon as I’m coming into the tent I can leave the car to them because they know exactly what they are doing and that’s also helping me to perform. It will be amazing to go to the last race in Spa and just drive with no pressure, because I really want to win that last race of the season.
 
Aleksi Koskinen, SET Promotion Euro RX1 Team Manager:
 
“It’s very hard not to think about the championship situation when you enter a weekend knowing that you could secure the title, but as a team we simply just focused on the next race and getting the best result we could in Portugal this weekend. In the end, we didn’t get the result in this race that we wanted, it wasn’t the easiest weekend at all actually – we had a real fight on track, but, to win the championship is amazing and our goal for the season has been achieved. We have had a great atmosphere this year, and it’s been a pleasure for us to work together with Anton and his guys. I first worked with Anton in the Marklund Motorsport team in 2014, so to win this with him in 2022 is special for me personally too. And we still have one race to go, where will be working extra hard to try and finish the year in style.”
 
Jussi Pinomäki, SET Promotion Team Principal:
 
“We are so proud of the small team we put together for this season to work together with Anton. To win a race in the European Championship is always special, but to win the title is even more so. That was our goal, together with Anton, for this year. He has been very, very good as a driver, and our guys, together with the people Anton has brought to this operation have been strong as a complete team. Kalle (Pinomaki) and I have been less involved on event this year than before, but we have been very comfortable that the team has been in safe hands and for SET to have claimed a 10th Euro RX title has not really sunk in. Well done to everyone.”
 
FIA Euro RX1 2022 Calendar
 
R1 – Nyirad, Hungary – May 21 - 22
R2 – Holjes, Sweden – July 2 - 3
R3 – Hell, Norway – August 13 - 14
R4 – Riga, Latvia – September 3 - 4
R5 – Montalegre, Portugal – September 17 - 18
R6 – Spa, Belgium – October 8 - 9

Full Euro RX information can be found on the FIA World Rallycross Championship website.
 
Click media-use images for high resolution versions.

About SET Promotion   SET Promotion is one of the most successful teams in the action-packed sport of rallycross, with nine FIA European Rallycross Championship titles to its name. Run by brothers Jussi and Kalle Pinomäki, SET’s structure offers a unique internal ladder of opportunity for drivers starting out in the sport to the very top in the growing FIA World Rallycross Championship.   #PoweredBySET   SET Promotion information here. World RX / Euro RX information here.

Swedish driver Anton Marklund was once again the class of the field in the fourth round of the FIA European Rallycross Championship at Riga in Latvia, and in a weekend of challenging conditions and tough competition, came away with another podium finish to extend his margin at the head of the championship.
 
Marklund’s weekend didn’t get off to the perfect start, when he was spun in the first corner of the first race, and had to fight back. Fifth overall time was strong damage limitation, before the double Euro RX Champion delivered race wins and the best times in heat two and heat three with the SET Hyundai i20 RX1 to climb to the top of the ranking positions.
 
Thereafter, Marklund won the progression race and semi-final to set up a victory challenge in the final, but a slightly sub-optimal start away from the line left the Swede in second position after the tricky opening corners.
 
The former World RX podium finish pressured leader Sondre Evjen for track position, and almost made an overtake work after the pair both took their joker laps, but feeling better to save the car and not risk going off the first by trying an optimistic move on the slippery circuit, Marklund settled for second and a third podium from the first four rounds of the 2022 campaign.
 
Thanks to the result and strong points haul, the SET driver moves into a 26-point lead, with two rounds in Portugal and Belgium remaining.
 
Anton Marklund (SWE) #92:
 
“I’m really pleased with the weekend in Riga, we were struggling a bit in heat 1 after we got hit in turn one, but managed to anyway set the fifth fastest time and then work our way into the weekend by being quickest in heat 2 and heat 3. Unfortunately in the final I didn’t really manage to pull off the best start and we were stuck behind Sondre, he made a mega lap when he was going into the joker, which meant I was not able to undercut him on the joker lap. But, we are in a fight to win the championship so I didn’t push too hard either to pass him and today we had to be happy with P2. Huge congratulations to Sondre for winning the event. I feel sorry for Janis (Baumanis), having his car breaking down is never the way you want to have a competitor end their weekend and I hope he will come back strong in Portugal so we can continue our fight for the championship. For us we’re moving in the right direction, hopefully we can have a strong weekend in Portugal and then see what happens at the final race in Belgium.”
 
Aleksi Koskinen, SET Promotion Euro RX1 Team Manager:
 
“We are very pleased, yet again, with our pace from the weekend in Riga. In the wet Anton and the car were very, very good, and also in the dry, apart from after the incident at the first corner in Heat 1, Anton was the fastest here again. But sometimes, being the fastest is not enough in rallycross. However, this weekend was different to how it went in Norway a few weeks ago, here it was about being sensible, Evjen did a good lap when he needed to, and we have a bigger picture to think about, so Anton used his experience to not lose his head and get good points in the bag. We are happy, but not satisfied, we will work very hard to try and get back onto the top step of the podium in the final two rounds of the year.”
 
FIA Euro RX1 2022 Calendar
 
R1 – Nyirad, Hungary – May 21 - 22
R2 – Holjes, Sweden – July 2 - 3
R3 – Hell, Norway – August 13 - 14
R4 – Riga, Latvia – September 3 - 4
R5 – Montalegre, Portugal – September 17 - 18
R6 – Spa, Belgium – October 8 - 9

Full Euro RX information can be found on the FIA World Rallycross Championship website.
 
Click media-use images for high resolution versions.

About SET Promotion   SET Promotion is one of the most successful teams in the action-packed sport of rallycross, with nine FIA European Rallycross Championship titles to its name. Run by brothers Jussi and Kalle Pinomäki, SET’s structure offers a unique internal ladder of opportunity for drivers starting out in the sport to the very top in the growing FIA World Rallycross Championship.   #PoweredBySET   SET Promotion information here. World RX / Euro RX information here.

Swedish driver Anton Marklund set the pace throughout the third round of the 2022 campaign at Hell in Norway, on the back of maximum points hauls in rounds one and two, but the Finnish team and European Rallycross Championship leading driver were denied the chance to make it three from three by a puncture in the final.
 
Marklund topped the time sheets in each of the three heat races to head the overall ranking classification, then won his races in both the progression round and the semi-final to secure pole position for the final, racing on a circuit where the Swede has historically had strong pace.
 
However, at the start of the final race on the 1-kilometer undulating circuit, Marklund received contact to the SET Promotion Hyundai i20’s front-right wheel, causing an immediate puncture that deflated the former European Rallycross Champion’s victory hopes.
 
While Marklund pressed on as best he could during the five-lap encounter and made it to the finish in P4, the team was left wondering what might have been.
 
However, such was the performance through the weekend that Marklund dropped only a single point in the Euro RX1 standings for four-wheel-drive 600bhp machines, and continues to lead the points table heading into the fourth of six rounds at Riga in Latvia next month.
 
Anton Marklund (SWE) #92:
 
“We had an almost perfect weekend here in Norway, winning all three qualifications, progression race and the semi-final. I was where I wanted to be, on pole position in the final, but it sadly ended quickly when I picked up a puncture already in the first corner. But apart from that, I had so much fun out there and thanks to the team, who were spot on and gave me a rocket of a car all weekend!”
 
Aleksi Koskinen, SET Promotion Euro RX1 Team Manager:
 
“The weekend went pretty much perfectly for us, right up until the first corner of the final. Anton has been brilliant in Hell against tough opposition on another different track and hardly put a wheel wrong. What happened at turn one in the final was unfortunate, but sometimes these things happen. The important thing is to keep our heads high, keep looking forward and fight back at the next race. If it wasn’t for the downs the ups would not feel so good, and we’re determined to score a top result next time in Riga!”

FIA Euro RX1 2022 Calendar
 
R1 – Nyirad, Hungary – May 21 - 22
R2 – Holjes, Sweden – July 2 - 3
R3 – Hell, Norway – August 13 - 14
R4 – Riga, Latvia – September 3 - 4
R5 – Montalegre, Portugal – September 17 - 18
R6 – Spa, Belgium – October 8 - 9

Full Euro RX information can be found on the FIA World Rallycross Championship website.
 
Click media-use images for high resolution versions.

About SET Promotion   SET Promotion is one of the most successful teams in the action-packed sport of rallycross, with nine FIA European Rallycross Championship titles to its name. Run by brothers Jussi and Kalle Pinomäki, SET’s structure offers a unique internal ladder of opportunity for drivers starting out in the sport to the very top in the growing FIA World Rallycross Championship.   #PoweredBySET   SET Promotion information here. World RX / Euro RX information here.

About SET Promotion   SET Promotion is one of the most successful teams in the action-packed sport of rallycross, with nine FIA European Rallycross Championship titles to its name. Run by brothers Jussi and Kalle Pinomäki, SET’s structure offers a unique internal ladder of opportunity for drivers starting out in the sport to the very top in the growing FIA World Rallycross Championship.   #PoweredBySET   SET Promotion information here. World RX / Euro RX information here.

Reigning RallyX Supercar Lites Champion Tommi Hallman will race in the Nitro Rallycross Championship this year with a SET Promotion-owned Supercar Lites machine in the NRX NEXT category.
 
The Finnish 21-year-old impressed last year in his debut Supercar Lites season. Racing as part of his family-run team, Hallman won four times and claimed three further podiums in seven rounds on the way to the title, competing against some fast rising stars of the discipline.
 
This season, he will compete in the six-round NRX NEXT European Championship, within the Nitro rallycross series, at events in the UK, Sweden and Finland. The first rounds take place at Lydden Hill in the UK, the venue of the first ever rallycross event in 1967, next week (June 18-19). The top drivers from the series will be invited to race in the American final early next year.
 
Before racing a single-make Supercar Lites machine, Hallman had made his first steps into rallycross with the successful RX Academy concept in 2019 and came within a single point of winning the title in the single-make series. For 2022, his hopes are just as high, to challenge for the title in the new rallycross series.
 
While Hallman will again run as his own effort in 2022, he continues to compete under the wider SET Promotion umbrella, as the Finnish team continues to support young drivers on an upward career trajectory.
 
Tommi Hallman (FIN) #87:
 
“I can't wait for the season to start, it's so exciting to jump into a new series. Nitro has already proved what it can bring to the sport in the US and I'm thrilled to take part in their first season in Europe. The tracks seem super cool with some spectacular jumps – I can’t wait! I've watched races from Lydden Hill from the TV for many years and it's such an iconic venue, it feels amazing to go racing there for the first-time next week. I'm expecting the level of competition in NRX NEXT to be tough, but at the same time I have good confidence with my pace and the car from last year. I've only done a few laps of testing but straight away I felt like at home behind the wheel. I have a long relationship with SET Promotion and it feels natural to continue something that's worked so well before. I also want to thank my partners, old and new, for their belief in me. Like in everything that I enter, my only goal is to win.”
 
Kalle Pinomäki, SET Promotion:
 
“Tommi first impressed us when he took part in RX Academy, and what he achieved last year with a limited budget was very impressive too. Everyone at SET is excited to follow Tommi’s next adventure, and will continue to support him as he builds his rallycross career. There are some big names racing in the NRX NEXT class this season, but there’s no reason why Tommi can’t be challenging at the front of the field if he can deliver the pace consistency we know he is capable of.”
 
NRX NEXT European Calendar 2022
 
R1/2 – Lydden Hill, UK – June 18 - 19
R3/4 – Strangnas, Sweden – July 30 - 31
R5/6 – Kymiring, Finland – August 27 - 28

Click media-use images for high resolution versions.

About SET Promotion   SET Promotion is one of the most successful teams in the action-packed sport of rallycross, with nine FIA European Rallycross Championship titles to its name. Run by brothers Jussi and Kalle Pinomäki,, SET’s structure offers a unique internal ladder of opportunity for drivers starting out in the sport to the very top in the growing FIA World Rallycross Championship.   #PoweredBySET   SET Promotion information here.