FIA World Motor Sport Council confirm revised Sporting Regulations for the 2013 FIA European Rallycross Championship.
The sporting regulations for the 2013 FIA European Rallycross Championship are to be revised following an agreement between the FIA World Motor Sport Council and RallycrossRX promoter, IMG Motorsports, part of IMG Worldwide, the global sports, fashion and media company. Events will now be run using a hybrid of the traditional event format, and those rules originally introduced for the Supercar category for 2013.
The 2013 RX Championship will become a transitional season in which each event will have an open entry to competitors and will comprise four qualifying heats based on timed races. The results of all four heats will determine the intermediate classification with Championship points awarded to the top 16 drivers. The top 12 drivers from the intermediate classification will then progress to two, six-car semi-finals, with the first three from each of these contesting the final. While overall Championship points will also be earned in the semis and the final, the winner of each event will ultimately be the driver who crosses the line first in the final. The SuperCar, Super1600 and TouringCar classes will all use the revised format, which gives drivers more racing and fans more opportunities to see their favourite racers in action.
Martin Anayi, Managing Director of RallycrossRX, said: “Using a hybrid event format for 2013 satisfies the desires of all stakeholders in a year when the FIA European Rallycross Championship has a championship promoter for the first time in its 40 year history. The new format retains some of the traditional racing elements, such as timed heats, whilst bringing into play the semi-final and final format which will be of great appeal to spectators and drivers alike.”
“Bringing in these rule changes, reducing the number of events to nine and allowing for a mechanism whereby drivers can enter on a permanent or per-event basis, allows us to appeal to the greatest field of drivers possible. We have worked hard within the sport to avoid date clashes with other events, allowing drivers the opportunity to take part in our Championship as well as the X Games for example, which is important for drivers wanting to make a career out of Rallycross. As a result we have a fantastic line up of drivers which we will be announced in the coming weeks.”
The FIA has appointed IMG Motorsports to be the exclusive championship promoter for the FIA European Rallycross Championship for the next 10 years as well as granting them exclusive rights to develop a FIA World Rallycross Championship in coming years. Entries for the Supercar, Super1600 and TouringCar categories are now open at entryforms.fia.com
Photo: The Rallycross cradle Lydden Circuit is set to host Round 1 of the 2013 FIA European Rallycross Championship. © JKR/ERC24