USA dropped from World RX calendar to save costs.

PHOTO CREDIT: FIA World Rallycross Media

A revised 2019 FIA World Rallycross Championship calendar was announced yesterday by the FIA's World Motor Sport Council [WMSC] in Russia. The American round was dropped from the calendar for the next two years. 

The inaugural World RX of USA was held at the Circuit of the Americas in September earlier this year, and PSRX Volkswagen Sweden's Johan Kristoffersson won the event. 

IMG, the championships promoters have said that a reduction in costs for teams was the leading factor for dropping the World RX round.

“After consulting with the FIA and our World Championship teams, we have decided to reduce the number of events in our 2019 calendar," said World RX Managing Director for IMG, Paul Bellamy. "This decision has been made to help control costs for the teams and ensure the series remains as competitive as possible."

The WMSC have also approved a number of measures to control costs during the two-year transition to Electric Rallycross, including reduction in the calendar [10 rounds], a new limit on the number of personnel per team and shortening events to two days.

PHOTO CREDIT: FIA World Rallycross Media

In the current FIA Sporting Regulations, 21 personnel are permitted to attend a World RX race weekend. Sixteen are engineering personnel, two crew chiefs per car and a the team manager. 

World RX Managing Director for IMG, Paul Bellamy has confirmed that the Americas Rallycross [ARX] championship will go ahead as planned on September 28-29, and World RX teams will be allowed to compete in the race weekend. 

“We will run a round of the Americas Rallycross Championship at COTA on September 28-29, which World Rallycross teams will be welcome to compete in, but it will not be part of the World Championship," says Bellamy. 

Despite Americas absence from the World RX calendar for the next two years. The promoter is adamant that the championship will return to America in 2021. 

"We are planning the return of the World Championship to the USA in 2021 when we add electric cars," said Bellamy. "We are still very much committed to growing rallycross in the USA and will continue to build audiences and platforms through our Americas Rallycross Championship."