UPDATED: Cape Town postponed as the World Rallycross Championship trims 2020 calendar.

PHOTO CREDIT: FIA World Rallycross Media. 

The South African round of the World Rallycross Championship has been postponed following the release of the provisional nine-round calendar for the 2020 season.

Killarney International Raceway joined the World RX roster in 2017, and was originally planned to host round eleven of the 2020 season on November 14-15. However, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the calendar required some revision which necessitated the need to push the event out by one year.

World RX promoters, IMG has emphasized that the postponement of the Cape Town RX is no reflection on the high quality of the World Rallycross events run at the Killarney International Raceway in the previous years.

The provisional 2020 calendar will see the season start in Sweden on August 20-23 before traversing Europe for seven rounds, with two taking place outside of Europe in the form of a double-header in Abu Dhabi.

With the provisional calendar being condensed into 21 weeks, the lengthy sea-freight logistics to and from South Africa has made it difficult to add the long-haul event into the condensed schedule.

“The 2020 World Rallycross of South Africa has not been canceled but instead postponed to the 2021 season; the two-year extension agreed in 2019 between IMG, local organizer Worldsport South Africa and the City of Cape Town will thus take place in 2021 and 2022,” Killarney International Raceway’s statement said.

Clerk of the Course Arlene Brown has also pointed out that this is probably for the best given that our health authorities are predicting that the COVID-19 pandemic will only peak in about September.

“We will just have to keep our excitement at bay until 2021,” Brown said.

World RX of South Africa promoters, WorldSport SA has expressed their support of the decision.

"We believe the postponement of the Cape Town race is in the best interests of the health of all stakeholders, participants, and spectators – their well-being remains our top priority," Bruce Parker-Forsyth, CEO of WorldSport South Africa said. "Though we’re disappointed that we won’t be able to enjoy the excitement up close this year we’ll soon announce new and exciting changes to ensure 2021 offers a better and more spectator-friendly race weekend.”

Written By - Junaid Samodien