IMG Selected to Promote FIA European Rallycross Championship

IMG, the global sports, fashion and media company, has been appointed championship promoter of the FIA European Rallycross Championship for a period of at least 10 years starting in 2013.

The agreement is IMG’s first with the FIA (Federation Internationale de l’Automobile) and the long-term ambition is for the series to develop into a World Championship in the coming years.

As Championship promoter IMG will have responsibility for all commercial areas connected to the series while the FIA retain all sporting, technical and regulatory aspects. IMG Motorsport will work closely with IMG Media to maximize TV and digital coverage for the sport around the world.

Martin Anayi, Managing Director of Rallycross for IMG Motorsports, said: “The Championship will be run at existing tracks in Europe in 2013 and combine the best aspects of traditional mixed-surface Rallycross action with an exciting new racing format that will offer drivers and spectators more races in an easily understood visual event that has a clear path of progression from heats to finals.

“Rallycross has the components to be the perfect 21st century motorsport; it’s short, sharp, full of action and has some great personalities. We need to keep those core elements that make Rallycross so special but repackage it and present it to an audience that has not yet discovered how great it is.”

All three current classes (Supercar, Super1600 and TouringCar) will continue in the new structure and each will retain its FIA Championship title. Supercar will become the featured class, with 25 cars taking part in each event and racing in a ’round robin’ series of heats that lead to semi-finals and the final. The 25 starters in each event will consist of 20 permanent drivers who will drive in every round of the Championship, the remaining five places taken by a mix of superstar wildcard entries and national hero qualifiers.

The Super1600 and TouringCar categories will continue in their current form during 2013, but will move to a ’round robin’ format of races in 2014. All three classes will race over both days of Championship events, the Super1600 and TouringCar finals being run between the Supercar finals and included in television coverage.

The FIA European Rallycross Championship run by IMG will be the only rallycross championship or series officially sanctioned and endorsed by the FIA at the top level and has already secured support from the best drivers, teams and venues in the world of rallycross. The Championship will officially launch in the coming weeks with the inaugural event of the new Championship taking place in Spring 2013.