2024 World Rallycross

[MotorsportMentalist]

Originally Posted by steve_r

Any news on any new cars to swell the sparse grid? And dare I mention, perhaps some non-Scandinavian drivers, so that people actually look at this like a world series?

Nothing yet, one thing I thought was that ESmotorsport’s efforts don’t go to waste. I don’t know how finalised the calendar is either, as some locations haven’t been disclosed officially, although other than Australia you can roughly pinpoint where they’ll be.

Going to FIRE’s point, I’d like the world idea succeed, but I was astonished that the series even went ahead this year at all, let alone the fact that they’re planning another season. What I always seem to forget is that most of World RX’s consistent locations are in Europe. They could probably get away with still going to Istanbul and Killarney under a European title as they’re not too far away for teams to travel. It would be a shame for Trois-Rivières, but they haven’t been there for years.

[NaBUru38]

How about this:

• A European Championship, with 7-8 rounds from April to September.
• A World Tour, with 3 rounds from October to December.

[MotorsportMentalist]

Originally Posted by NaBUru38

How about this:

• A European Championship, with 7-8 rounds from April to September.
• A World Tour, with 3 rounds from October to December.

Interesting idea, kind of reminds me on how the Euro RX participants used to run in the same heats as the World RX, but the European competitors would score in their own championship.

[flatlandsman]

Let's be frank here, this is a series that is struggling to see its future.

They are so desperate they are going to places like Coventry instead of proper tracks, the driver base is very very thin, and were it not for the support series like ERX and a few others the entire thing would have fallen away.

[tbtstt]

Originally Posted by MotorsportMentalist

The Australian round was dropped for China, which in turn has been dropped for a return to Istanbul.

I haven't seen it verified from any other sources, but there was a link doing the rounds on Facebook suggesting that Istanbul Park has some sort of financial issue(s)? For the sake of the Championship I hope that is wrong, as another venue/country shift this late in the year could be tricky?

Just seen that Patrick O'Donovan is entering the final World RX round (in his Peugeot 208) so at least that is one more car on the grid.

[flatlandsman]

Last I heard Istanbul was being used as a car park for some reason.

It has not been used as a race track for a very long time and I think a lot of this is trying to use events to generate income to force it to open. Very odd, probably linked to a no fee clause if the event does not happen.

[MotorsportMentalist]

Thanks for the updates, I didn’t know that the second replacement might be under threat too. If the track is already being used as a car park, they might not be using the rallycross track at present, hence the idea of racing there. Fingers crossed it goes ahead, so we can have some closure at the end of the season (and to see how O’Donovan gets on against the World RX grid).

[flatlandsman]

There was a track already there, but it did not last more than maybe 1 or 2 seasons, no crowd at all obviously, it was in the early days of WRX when IMG were moving away from established venues in the search for money and towards tracks prepared to pay significant sums to host events.

I heard a rumour that back then if places like Maasmecehlen and Valkenswaard held WRX events and paid the hosting fees they would have to have doubled ticket prices to make enough money to break even and this was very early WRX days, hence the promoters went to places that had Gov funding to host events, basically a decision based on money, not sport

[tbtstt]

Originally Posted by MotorsportMentalist

Thanks for the updates, I didn’t know that the second replacement might be under threat too.

I am trying to find the link I saw the other day and can't see it anywhere now. I am always interested to read rallycross information/stories/gossip that people share on Facebook and the like, but I take it with a pinch of salt until I see it reported from a more reliable sources!

[tbtstt]

Just seen the entry list for Istanbul. No Munnich or Pelfrane, but PGRX joining the grid with two of their i20's (presumably the ex-GRX cars), with Bossard and Rytkonen driving.

Arguably the best of the ex-Works Supercars in use at the moment, plus Patrick in the Team RX Racing 208. Very interested to see how close the pace of those cars/drivers is to the quickest of the World field.