The biggest discussion in the FIA World Rallycross Championship paddock is about which entity will take the place left by IMG as the new championship promoter and how it will be the relationship between it and the remaining parts involved, but since the calendar decision can’t exactly wait for it, the sketch of the next season schedule was already presented and approved.
The confirmation of the 2021 calendar came during the FIA World Motor Sport Council meeting hosted in Geneva, Switzerland, though following the health and safety protocols with some members joining in via online conference. The initial purpose of calendar has 10 events in it, following the initial offering from the 2020 season before the adjusts were needed, starting in late May to end in late November.
While the abruptly ended season had to be concentrated in Europe for the sake of safety protocols and logistical ease, the 2021 one will see the return of events outside the continent where rallycross was created, with a Middle East round and the Cape Town RX being the selected events.
The interesting addition is the extended stay of Kouvola RX, which returned in 2020 as SET Promotion hosted the event, delivering a worthy spectacle in the double header format that became the norm this year. Of the final 2020 schedule, Höljes RX and Barcelona RX are also present, though the same can’t be said about the Riga RX, with an European round in late August needing confirmation of a venue, which can be either Montalegre, Riga itself or even a complete surprise depending of the new promoter.
The Middle East round is also open, though before IMG announcing the end of its promotion of World RX, Yas Marina announced to be set to return in 2021, which puts the Abu Dhabi venue as the leading contender. Interestingly the FIA announcement doesn’t discard visiting any other part of Asia, with China and Japan opening to rallycross with their own national events, respectively XRacing and the JRX Exhibition, though the latter is less of a possibility due to the heavy travel restrictions.
Spa-Francorchamps, Hell, Nürburgring and Lohéac are the remaining events of the calendar, with three of them returning after being canceled this year and Nürburgring delaying its debut to next year as the 2020 event couldn’t be held.
At the moment all rounds are provisional as they still need to reach an agreement with the new promoter, and according to FIA, the decision on the new entity will come in the early days of 2021.
2021 World RX calendar:
23 May - Spa RX
13 June - Hell RX
20 June - Kouvola RX
4 July - Höljes RX
25 July - Barcelona RX
1 August - Nürburgring RX
22 August - TBC Europe
5 September - Lohéac RX
16 October - TBC Asia
28 November - Cape Town RX
PHOTO: FIA World Rallycross Championship
Comments
Post a Comment
Do you have an opinion? Feel free to comment.