The championship's predecessor began in 1973 as the Embassy/ERA European Rallycross Championship. Three years later, in 1976, the FIA formalised its involvement by creating specific regulations — including Group 5 rules for competing cars — and awarded the first official European cup. The inaugural FIA-recognised champion under those early rules was Norwegian Martin Schanche, who collected the most points across both the Touring car and Grand Touring car divisions introduced in 1978. In 1979, Schanche took the first outright FIA European Championship title.
The championship's technical rules have been revised several times to reflect broader trends in motorsport. In 1982, the FIA reorganised competing classes into Division 1, for Group A cars restricted to two-wheel drive, and Division 2 for so-called Rallycross Specials permitted to use four-wheel drive. The first European Champions under the new structure were Norwegian Egil Stenshagen in Division 1 and Austrian Franz Wurz — father of ex-Formula One driver Alexander Wurz — in Division 2.
When Group B machinery was banned from the World Rally Championship after the 1986 season following a series of serious accidents, those exotic cars found a new home in the European Rallycross Championship from 1987 onward. Division 2 became home to legendary Group B hardware such as the Peugeot 205 Turbo 16 E2, Ford RS200 E2, Lancia Delta S4, Audi Sport Quattro S1, and MG Metro 6R4, all of which continued to be developed beyond their WRC specification.
By 1993 the Group B cars were phased out and a new generation of four-wheel drive specials took over. Division 1 opened to 4WD cars under Group N regulations while Division 2 adopted Group A-based rules permitting modifications such as engine swaps within the same manufacturer, turbocharger additions, and four-wheel drive conversions. This framework produced distinctive machines built on the Citroën Xantia, Peugeot 306, and Ford Escort RS2000 platforms. A third division, the 1400 Cup for two-wheel drive cars up to 1.4 litres, was added that year and received full FIA title recognition in 1995.
Subsequent reforms in 1997 swapped the Division numbering so that the faster Group A-based cars became Division 1 again. In 1999, Division 1 was expanded to accept cars built to WRC and Supertouring specifications. For 2003 the format settled into the shape used for the following decade, with Division 1 running turbocharged 4WD Group A specials, Division 2 running naturally aspirated 2.0-litre Group N two-wheel drive cars, and a Division 1A replacing the old 1400 Cup with Group A cars limited to 1.6 litres.
In 2013, IMG Motorsports took over promotion of the European Rallycross Championship, rebranding it as RallycrossRX and reformatting the race weekends. The following year marked the most significant structural change in the championship's history: the FIA approved a fully sanctioned FIA World Rallycross Championship (World RX), and alongside it the European Rallycross Championship was restructured as a supporting series.
From 2014, Euro RX ran as a five-round Supercar championship with events in Great Britain, Norway, Belgium, Germany, and Italy. At the same time, all nine World RX rounds held in Europe counted toward the European titles in the Super1600 and TouringCar classes, integrating the continental and world championships into a coherent ladder.
Throughout its history the European Rallycross Championship has acted as the primary international stage for the sport between the era of national championships and the creation of a dedicated world series. Its long champion roll includes some of the most recognisable names in European rallycross, with Norwegian drivers — most notably Martin Schanche — dominating the early decades. The championship's openness to Group B cars in the late 1980s gave a second life to some of the most spectacular machinery in rally history and attracted a generation of fans to rallycross. The eventual elevation of the series to world championship level in 2014 validated rallycross as a mainstream international motorsport discipline.