ERC24 has been informed that the FIA European Championship for Rallycross Drivers is set to change its face after the running season.

There has been lots of rumours in the past claiming that the European Rallycross Championship has to expect several far-reaching changes soon as the marketing rights for the series are due to be granted by motorsport’s governing body FIA to a privately owned company specialised in sports marketing and media business. Yesterday we were informed by reliable sources that the way to the future of our sport has already been paved a lot and that 2013 will bring a thoroughly revised format for the ERC.

From a heap of unconfirmed information we expect at least the following changes to come: The SuperCars racing is going to be the real major deal from next year on, 16 to be named drivers (14 seeded ERC regulars plus 2 invited guest drivers per round) shall feature on the Sundays only. Racing of the Super1600s and TouringCars shall take place on Saturdays, thereby ‘outside’ the main event, and should not be limited the same way as in SuperCars. We were told that most of the 14 drivers have already been selected from different countries by a working group of the marketing company, but they need to confirm their commitment by October. The whole of Sunday’s racing shall happen within a very few hours to culminate in a single Finale with just the 5 or 6 best drivers of the qualification competing for overall victory. If this is going to happen it will be a whole new way of running an official FIA championship with a limitation on the number of drivers allowed to the starts. It is also said that the working group is currently negotiating with the best tracks/organisers in Europe to make sure that the quality of the venues will have a top class level too.

Photo: Clouds over Eden – or brighter days to come? © JKR/ERC24