The FIA World Rallycross Championship has released its calendar for the 2019 season, which sees several changes take place for next year as the Championship enters its sixth season of competition.
The Calendar itself, which is subject to both FIA circuit homologation and approval from the FIA World Motorsport Council, features a reduction to eleven rounds from previous seasons where there have been either twelve or thirteen. There have also been several venues dropped from the Calendar.
The 2019 FIA World Rallycross Championship will venture to Abu Dhabi for the first time. Credit: @World / Red Bull Content Pool
Montalegre in Portugal, Mettet in Belgium and Buxtehude in Germany have all been dropped from next year, however the iconic Estering has been moved to become a standalone event for both Supercars and Super1600’s in the 2019 FIA European Rallycross Championship Calendar.
Replacing Montalegre and Mettet are two new circuits which will see World RX continue its tradition of utilising Formula One Circuits to build brand new Rallycross tracks or F1/RX tracks. This continued in 2018 with Silverstone and COTA joining the list of previous venues with this type of circuit.
The FIA World Rallycross Championship will race at eleven events in 2019. Credit: IMG / World RX
The Yas Marina circuit in Abu Dhabi will host the opening round of the season, breaking new ground as the first competitive Rallycross event ever to be held in the Middle East.
The weekend itself will follow the successful SpeedMachine format that debuted at Silverstone this year which will also be a festival of entertainment including live music.
The legendary Spa-Francorchamps circuit will take over from Mettet as the host of the World RX of Belgium, with a brand new purpose built circuit being constructed to include the famous Eau Rouge corner.
The 2019 FIA World Rallycross Championship Calendar. Credit: IMG / FIA World RX
The 2019 FIA World Rallycross Championship Calendar:
• World RX of UAE: Abu Dhabi – Yas Marina – 5-6 April
• World RX of Spain: Barcelona – 27-28 April
• World RX of Belgium: Spa-Francorchamps – 11-12 May
• World RX of Great Britain: Silverstone – 25-26 May
• World RX of Norway: Hell – 15-16 June
• World RX of Sweden: Höljes – 6-7 July
• World RX of Canada: Trois-Rivières – 3-4 August
• World RX of France: Lohéac – 31 August-1 September
• World RX of Latvia: Riga – 14-15 September
• World RX of USA: Austin – 28-29 September
• World RX of South Africa: Cape Town – 30 November-1 December
The final round of the 2018 FIA World Rallycross Championship, the World RX of South Africa takes place at the Killarney International circuit on 24 – 25 November.
