After the decision to postpone the season-opener of Höljes earlier this year, RallyX Nordic has now set a date to bring it back and host a double-header named ‘All-Star’ Magic Weekend in early July.
The legendary Magic Weekend will this year play host to the season-opener where the brand-new ‘All-Star’ element that will be introduced with well-known names participating to raise funds for the track owner Finnskoga MK.
The event is a joint venture between the RallyX Nordic series, Finnskoga MK and the Swedish arm of international broadcasting heavyweight NEP.
“We are thrilled to officially announce the ‘All-Star’ Magic Weekend at Höljes, and the belated start to the 2020 rallycross season! A tremendous amount of planning and hard work has gone into putting this event together from all sides – particularly when faced with the challenge of continuously shifting goalposts in light of the current situation.” Jan-Erik Steen, CEO of RX Promotion, said.
“Nobody knows when we will be able to invite spectators to the track again, and with the short-term future of motorsport almost certainly being behind ‘closed doors’, we wanted to offer fans something truly innovative, while doing our bit to safeguard one of the most iconic circuits in rallycross.”
“NEP are renowned for their pioneering approach to broadcasting and have a long and successful history of showcasing our sport to millions of households all around the world. We are well aware that fans are crying out for live racing action, and that is what the ‘All-Star’ Magic Weekend will offer – pure, unadulterated entertainment complemented by premium ‘access-all-areas’ features courtesy of a live on-site studio.”
“It is an unprecedented solution for what are unprecedented times, and we believe it offers excellent value for money while enabling fans to support Höljes and ensure the circuit’s future is every bit as glorious as its past – if not indeed more so. We are convinced that the best is yet to come – and it starts now!”
The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has stopped many motorsport events this year and the RallyX Nordic series has been following the world’s situation closely, making many changes to its calendar. They are still planning the full schedule for the season-opener and plans to host it at six weeks time.
The ‘All-Star’ Magic Weekend will feature all four classes from the series; Supercar, Supercar Lites, Crosskart and Crosskart Junior, and will be hosted over four days behind closed doors with three of them being raced from early morning to late evening due the Swedish government restrictions.
“In times like these, you need to think outside-of-the box. How can we take a big motorsport event like the ‘Magic Weekend’ at Höljes, without any spectator attendance, and convey the same feeling as if you were there?” Karl Drakenberg, Creative Director at NEP Sweden, said.
“The answer is simple: you adapt and you overcome, but the execution requires a whole lot of hard work from all parties. Luckily, thinking about new ways to broadcast rallycross has been in the back of our minds since long before this pandemic outbreak, so we did not have to start from zero.
“A lot of people around the world, including myself and the production crew, have a certain place in our hearts for rallycross, and to see this wonderful sport go down in flames due to the current situation is not an option. Therefore, we want to do everything in our power to prevent that.”
“The tight co-operation between NEP, RX Promotion and Finnskoga MK is truly unique; every actor wants to reach the same goal, while all planning and pre-production is taking place through digital meetings. I really think that this will change the traditional way of producing motorsport and hopefully, we can embrace the same philosophy post COVID-19.”
For the first day of the event on Thursday 2 July, all four classes will race and the Round 2 will have the ‘All-Star shout-out‘ to race on the remaining two days Saturday 4 July and Sunday 5 July, featuring legends from the past and modern time in both Supercars and Supercar Lites machinery.
The Friday 3 July they will broadcast a special livestream with behind-the-scenes stories, interactions with fans and interviews with the drivers.
“For us, having to cancel the ‘Magic Weekend’ was pretty much unthinkable – but that is what we were faced with when the COVID-19 situation set in. It is such a staple of the motorsport calendar, so we worked hard to find an alternative and this was the solution we liked the most and that we thought would fit us as a club.” Morgan Östlund, Chairman of Finnskoga MK, said.
“The ‘All-Star’ Magic Weekend will be a real celebration of rallycross and – after such a long ‘off-season’ – it will truly bring the excitement back for action-starved competitors and fans. In these uncharacteristic times, there is a need to think differently, and the concept that we have come up with in partnership with NEP and RX Promotion represents an innovative way of going racing while continuing to look after our circuit and club.”
“Although we are obviously sad not to be able to open our gates to spectators for the event, we would encourage everybody to tune in and enjoy the action in a responsible manner. At the end of the day, if Höljes is to survive the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic and flourish in the future, we need fans’ support – and we believe this ‘crowdfunding’ initiative is a great solution. The racing will be first-class and there will be many opportunities to interact directly with the stars of the show, so stay tuned and – until this situation is over – please, stay home.”
Fans who want to watch the livestreams have to use the pay-per-view method with the main objective is to raise money for the Höljes track owner for the future due to the COVID-19 pandemic causing many major tracks worldwide to be face with an hard economic situation.
