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| PHOTO CREDIT: FIA World RX Media. |
Here are 6 reasons why the 2019 Cape Town RX on 9 and 10 November should not be missed.
1. Title Decider
All eyes will be focussed on the battle for the FIA World Rallycross Championship title in Cape Town, where Team Hansen MJP's Timmy Hansen leads Monster Energy RX Cartel's Andreas Bakkerud by one point, while Timmy's teammate and younger brother Kevin Hansen is still in play for the championship eight points behind his brother with 30 points still available in Cape Town.
2. Fast Supercars
The FIA World Rallycross Championship makes use of hot hatch cars turned up to eleven with a turbocharged, two-litre, 600bhp engine, and four-wheel drive.
A World RX Supercar can accelerate from 0-60mph in less than two seconds – faster than an F1 car.
There is nothing more pulsating than six Supercars lined up alongside each other before the start of the race with Anti-lag engaged. Just, imagine five or six 600bhp cars storming off the line on the run to turn one where carnage is pretty much inevitable.
3. South Africa's only FIA Championship event
The African continent has hosted some of the world's most illustrious motorsport events in history, including Formula 1, the Dakar Rally, the World Rally Championship and Formula E, but the FIA World Rallycross Championship in South Africa is the first FIA-sanctioned World Championship since the 1993 South African Grand Prix.
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| PHOTO CREDIT: FIA World RX Media. |
4. A closer field
For the past two years, Cape Town has seen the dominance of one team and one driver, namely Johan Kristoffersson (PSRX Volkswagen Sweden). The Swede did not just win both the 2017 and 2018 rounds but also won an amazing 7 out of 12 rounds in 2017. In 2018, Kristoffersson was only beaten to the flag once, with Sebastien Loeb (Peugeot) reigning superior at Mettet, Belgium.
Volkswagen, Peugeot and Audi might not be competing in the 2019 FIA World RX championship as factory teams, but the lap times have certainly not dropped. While anything can happen in any given rallycross race, lap times can differ immensely. Even with this, taken into account, the cars this year are just as fast (if not quicker at times) than the 2018 field.
The 2019 season has also seen six different winners, with only Timmy Hansen (Team Hansen MJP) taking more than one win.
Whereas previous 2017 and 2018 races could be predicted, the same can not be said for 2019.
5. More affordable ticket prices
Yes, that is correct. Tickets can be found at https://www.quicket.co.za/events/70540-fia-world-rallycross-of-south-africa/#/ and a general access ticket for the weekend will cost you R450. Compared to other live shows around the world, this is a very good deal.
More so, grandstand tickets can now be purchased at a very reasonable price of R350 (Saturday) and R400 (Sunday). A family (4 people) group ticket can also be purchased for R900 and will include parking.
6. A guaranteed new FIA World Rallycross Champion
While Kristoffersson is not racing in 2019, Killarney will not only see a completely new race winner, but also the crowning of a new World Champion.
While Mattias Ekström, Petter Solberg and Kristoffersson all raced within the last three weeks, none of the previous World Champions are in contention for the 2019 crown.
Both Hansen brothers and Bakkerud have been close to a title before but never grabbed hold of it. Whoever wins the title, will therefore do so in absolute determination.
Whereas Kristoffersson was crowned as champion in Latvia and USA previously, a new champion will emerge on Cape Town soil.
While the WRX field came to Killarney in 2017 and 2018 with refreshed eagerness to win the last race of the championship, the field will approach 2019 with an absolute “all-out” mentality. This will not only be the last race of the season, but also the last chance to grab hold of the championship!
Written By - Junaid Samodien & Franco Theron (PedalFest SA)
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