Rallycross: final 2014 decisions and calendars

  • gb
11.12.13
Meeting on 4 December 2013 in Paris, the World Motor Sport Council made the following decisions pertaining to Rallycross.

Following on-going discussions with the Promoter, the WMSC is pleased to confirm the creation of the FIA’s sixth World Championship, the FIA World Rallycross Championship. This fast, competitive and spectacular youth-orientated Championship will be for Supercar drivers and teams and will be contested over 12 Competitions around the world. The Sporting Regulations were approved.

From January 2014, a new scale of points will be adopted for the qualifying heats in both the FIA World and European Rallycross Championships, with the top drivers receiving more points than those behind. Instead of scoring 1 point, the qualifying Heat winner will now get 50 points. The point scale will now be 50-45-42-40-39-38-37 and so on. These points are not "Championship" points, but points serving to establish the so-called intermediate classification at the end of the qualifying Heats. Championship points granted following the qualifying Heats will remain unchanged (16-15-14-13-12-…-1 to the first 16 drivers). To increase the value of winning the Final, eight Championship points will be awarded instead of six.

It was agreed to introduce a new article applicable to international Rallycross competitions and the FIA Rallycross Championships that if a semi-final or final is red flagged, a restart need not be given if four of the six scheduled laps have been completely covered. The decision whether to give a restart or not belongs to the officials of the competition. If it is decided to give a restart, the distance of the new race must be the distance that was initially scheduled. If it is decided not to give a restart, the classification will be that of the lap before the lap on which the signal to stop the race was given. A fixed notional time will be added to the times of those drivers who had not covered their Joker Lap before the red flag was shown. This fixed notional time, established per category, will correspond to the average best time through the Joker Lap (rounded up to the nearest tenth of a second) set by the five fastest drivers in the final qualifying Heat. If a race in a qualifying Heat is stopped by the red flag, it must in all cases be rerun in full, the classification of the said qualifying Heats being established according to the time taken to cover all the laps of the race, and not according to the positions in which the drivers finished.

In both the FIA European and World Championships, the number of engine seals per driver in any one season is set at three. A penalty of 15 Championship points will be imposed on the driver for each additional engine seal.

As from 2014, a FIA-approved data acquisition system will be introduced in the SuperCar category. The teams and permanent drivers will have to acquire and use the complete FIA data acquisition system as defined by the FIA; the non-permanent drivers will have to acquire and install the wiring and sensors of the data acquisition system as defined by the FIA. Data acquisition units will be allocated at random to non-permanent drivers at each Competition venue upon the instructions of the FIA officials. This system will serve exclusively to store the data acquired and all data may be consulted at any time during the Competition by FIA officials to check whether the cars run in compliance with the Technical Regulations.

As from 2014, cars homologated exclusively in Group N will be able to serve as the basis for the construction of SuperCar, Super1600 and TouringCar cars. Until this year, only Rallycross cars could be derived from homologated cars in Group A. This broadening of the parameters makes cars such as, among others, the Renault Mégane RS, the Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 9 or 10 and the Subaru WRX STi eligible for Rallycross.

Long integrated into the General Prescriptions applicable Rallycross and Autocross competitions, the definitions and characteristics of the Off-Road circuits now feature directly in Appendix O (“Procedures for the recognition of motor racing circuits”) to the International Sporting Code.

The Belgian Andy Lasure was re-elected as President of the FIA Off-Road Commission; likewise, the Pole Wlodek Szaniawski was retained in his position of Vice-President. The Commission will also include one representative of the FIA Championship promoter (IMG) and delegates of the ASNs (National Sporting Authorities) of Austria, Croatia, Finland, France, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Mexico, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Russia, Sweden, Ukraine, the United Kingdom, Turkey and the USA.

In addition, it was decided to create a Technical Working Group specific to Rallycross, the composition of which will be as follows:

-       3 representatives of the FIA,

-       2 representatives of the Promoter of the FIA Rallycross Championships (IMG),

-       1 representative of each of the SuperCar teams entered as Teams in the FIA World Rallycross Championship,

-       1 representative of the Competitors entered in the FIA European Rallycross Championship for Super1600,

-       1 representative of the Competitors entered in the FIA European Rallycross Championship for TouringCars,

-       2 guests.

This Working Group will be chaired by a member of the FIA Technical Department and will communicate its proposals to the FIA Off-Road Commission for assessment and possible submission to the World Motor Sport Council. The current development of the FIA Rallycross Championships requires more precise technical attention as well as work on the existing regulations (Article 279 of Appendix J) ahead of the 2015 season so as to anticipate any form of evolutions of the cars that could end up compromising the participation of amateur and semi-professional teams and generating an escalation of costs.

 

The 2014 calendars are as follows:

FIA World Rallycross Championship

 

03-04/05                                                    Montalegre (PRT)

24-25/05                                                    Lydden Hill (GBR) *

14-15/06                                                    Hell-Lanke (NOR)

28-29/06                                                    Kouvola (FIN)

05-06/07                                                    Höljes (SWE)

12-13/07                                                    Mettet (BEL) *

07-08/08                                                    Trois-Rivières (CDN) *

06-07/09                                                    Lohéac (FRA)

20-21/09                                                    Buxtehude (DEU)

27-28/09                                                    Franciacorta (ITA) *

11-12/10                                                    Istanbul Park (TUR) *

22-23/11                                                    TBA (ARG)

 

FIA European Rallycross Championship (SuperCar)

 

24-25/05                                                    Lydden Hill (GBR) *

14-15/06                                                    Hell-Lanke (NOR)

12-13/07                                                    Mettet (BEL) *

20-21/09                                                    Buxtehude (DEU)

27-28/09                                                    Franciacorta (ITA) *

 

FIA European Rallycross Championship (Super1600 & TouringCar)

 

03-04/05                                                    Montalegre (PRT)

24-25/05                                                    Lydden Hill (GBR) *

14-15/06                                                    Hell-Lanke (NOR)  

28-29/06                                                    Kouvola (FIN)

05-06/07                                                    Höljes (SWE)

12-13/07                                                    Mettet (BEL) *

06-07/09                                                    Lohéac (FRA)

20-21/09                                                    Buxtehude (DEU)

27-28/09                                                    Franciacorta (ITA) *

 

 *subject to circuit (re-)homologation