SuperSport confirms motorsport broadcast deals for the 2022 season.

South Africa-based pay-tv service, SuperSport has formally confirmed it's motorsport portfolio for the 2022 season. 

The South African/African motorsport community can look forward to eleven different championships this year, with a few additional broadcast deals are yet to be confirmed. 

As per previous seasons, Formula 1 coverage will be provided by SkySports F1. 

Fan favourites, MotoGP, Formula E, and IndyCar will also remain on the platform this year, whilst junior series, FIA Formula 3 will not be broadcast live, instead, a highlights package will be aired a few weeks after the live event.

Having failed to secure broadcast rights last year, the Race of Champions is back on SuperSport this year (live this weekend) after a deal was announced last week.

So, which championships have been secured, and which deals await official confirmation?

Rights secured for 2022:

    • Australian Supercars

    • DTM

    • Extreme E

    • Formula 1 (including F2 and F3 – not live)

    • Formula E

    • FIA World Endurance Championship

    • IndyCar

    • LeMans 24

    • MotoGP (including Moto2 and Moto3)

    • NASCAR

    • Race Of Champions ‘22

    • WSeries

    • WSBK 

Broadcast deals yet to be announced:

    • ETCR 

    • WTCR 

    • World Rallycross

The Broadcast Schedule for 4 to 6 February 2022:

Friday, 4 February 2022:

12:30 – 15:30 - Kyalami 9 Hour '21: Local Support Race (SS Motorsport)

15:30 – 17:55 - Kyalami 9 Hour '21: Kyalami 9 Hour Qualifying (SS Motorsport)

17:55 – 21:00 - Kyalami 9 Hour '21: Kyalami 9 Hour Pole (SS Motorsport)

Saturday, 5 February 2022:

08:30 – 12:55 - Kyalami 9 Hour '21: Local Support Race (SS Motorsport)

12:55 – 21:00 - Kyalami 9 Hour '21: Kyalami 9 Hour Race (SS Motorsport)

13:00 – 16:00 - Race of Champions '22: ROC Nations Cup (SS Action)

Sunday, 6 February 2022:

13:00 – 16:00 - Race of Champions '22: Race Of Champs (SS Motorsport)

Sunday/Monday, 7 February 2022:

00:00 – 00:55 - NASCAR Cup Series Build Up ‘22: The Coliseum (SS Motorsport)

00:55 – 03:00 - NASCAR ‘22: The Coliseum (SS Motorsport)

*Schedule subject to change without notice.

Cape Town and Hell makes welcome return for first season of World RX’s electric era

PHOTO CREDIT: Red Bull Content Pool

The FIA and Rallycross Promoter GmbH have unveiled the provisional 2022 FIA World Rallycross Championship calendar following the World Motor Sport Council (WMSC) meeting yesterday. 

The first season of the electric era will see the champion travel to nine countries with 12 rounds across seven events (five double-headers) - a return to normality after two seasons affected by the global pandemic.

The action is set to get underway at the iconic Höljes circuit in early July, before moving to Germany's Nürburgring - the venue that hosted a thrilling season finale last month.

After those two single-headers, the remaining five events will all take the form of double-headers, beginning with a welcome return to Hell (Norway) in mid-August after a two-year absence due to the global pandemic. 

Rīga’s historic Biķernieki trase is next up in September, followed by the Montalegre circuit a fortnight later and legendary Spa-Francorchamps in early October. 

After a two-year absence, Cape Town is expected to host the season finale (double-header) at the Killarney International Raceway in November, subject to prevailing COVID restrictions.

"We are delighted to present the provisional 2022 calendar for the FIA World Rallycross Championship. A lot of hard work has gone into putting together what we believe is a schedule that blends the very best of this sport, from much-loved traditional rallycross tracks to iconic, world-renowned motorsport venues – and we are sure everybody will welcome the prospect of returning to South Africa for the season finale," Arne Dirks, Executive Director, Rallycross Promoter GmbH, said.

ESmotorsport cites sustainability as a key factor in its decision step up to World RX in 2022.

PHOTO CREDIT: Red Bull Content Pool

European Champions ESmotorsport joins Kristoffersson Motorsport and ALL-INKL.COM Muennich Motorsport in confirming its 2022 FIA World Rallycross Championship plans. 

The Lithuanian squad was founded by ex-racer Ernestas Staponkus, who competed in Euro RX’s Super1600 category and claimed a podium finish in Germany in 2014 before hanging up his helmet two years later to focus on establishing his own team.

ESmotorsport entered the World Championship scene for the first time in 2019, with Kevin Abbring driving their Škoda Fabia to fourth place in both Norway and Sweden that year.

Former FIA European Rallycross Champion and World RX race winner Reinis Nitišs stepped up and climbed behind the wheel of the Fabia Supercar for the double-header in Riga last year. 

In 2021, the team ran Andreas Bakkerud and Jānis Baumanis in Euro RX1, the Latvian famously winning on home soil last month and the Norwegian clinching the title at Spa-Francorchamps at the end of a thrilling season-long battle – although the primary aim of its combustion-engined activities was always to accumulate experience before embarking upon World RX’s exciting electric era, which is Staponkus’ overriding passion.

"After long internal discussions, we are excited to confirm that ESmotorsport will enter World RX in 2022. Even just a couple of years ago, it seemed inconceivable that we would have this kind of evolution in rallycross but here we are, with a brighter future just around the corner and we are excited to be a small part of this big transition," Robertas Maneikis, Team Manager, ESmotorsport, said.

"The results that we have managed to achieve in Euro RX1 this season ignited a new fire for us to fight amongst the most skilled and experienced competitors in the world next year – and whilst that will clearly not be easy, we are more than up for the challenge. 

"We believe that the new promoter alongside the FIA,  Kreisel and the other teams are doing a fantastic job looking at ways to make improvements for 2022, and Ernestas [Staponkus] is delighted by the decision to make the championship more sustainable – not to mention the awesome new RX1e beasts. Jaws are definitely going to drop when people see these cars on-track..."

ALL-INKL.COM Muennich Motorsport confirms two-car assault for World RX’s new electric era in 2022

PHOTO CREDIT: Red Bull Content Pool

ALL-INKL.COM Muennich Motorsport has formally confirmed a two-car entry in the 2022 FIA World Rallycross Championship, with team manager Dominik Greiner hailing the forthcoming electric switch as an ‘exciting new dawn’.

The German squad first entered World RX with René Münnich at the Estering midway through the inaugural season in 2014, with the German already a regular on the FIA European Rallycross Championship since 2007.

Over the next few years, the team became a stalwart in the rallycross scene at both World and European level, fielding cars for Münnich, 2015 Euro RX Supercar Champion Tommy Rustad, double DTM Champion Timo Scheider, and World RX event-winner Reinis Nitišs.

In 2017, Münnich achieved the team’s first European podium finish at Höljes, before reaching the podium again in Germany en route to a career-best fifth in the overall standings in 2019.

Team-mate Timo Scheider added to the silverware collection with a third-place finish in Sweden in 2020, paving the way to a strong season for the squad this year in which the squad has been a consistent front-runner and podium-challenger on the World Championship stage, despite being dealt more than their fair share of ill-fortune (electrical issues, battery issues, and prop-shaft failures).

René progressed through to the World RX final for the first time with a fifth-place finish in the Catalunya curtain-raiser, but the best was yet to come. At Lohéac last month, the team principal/driver made history as the first German ever to win a round in the top class of the European Championship in the series’ near 40-year history, going on to secure the sixth place spot in the points table at season’s end.

ALL-INKL.COM Muennich Motorsport has Kristoffersson Motorsport in confirming its 2022 World Championship plans. 

"We are delighted to be entering two cars in the FIA World Rallycross Championship in 2022. René has been a great supporter of the series for many years now, and he strongly believes in the new promoter’s vision for a more sustainable future," Dominik Greiner, Team Manager, ALL-INKL.COM Muennich Motorsport, said.

"As a team, we are very open and enthusiastic about embracing new technologies, and rallycross is the ideal discipline for electrification with its short, sharp format. For us, it makes complete sense to sign up right from the start of World RX’s exciting new dawn, alongside our continuing commitment to the FIA European Rallycross Championship’s combustion-powered Euro RX1 category. Everybody at ALL-INKL.COM Muennich Motorsport is extremely motivated to be engaging in these two complementary programmes in 2022."

A total of 14 electric kits have already been reserved from Kreisel Electric, the company behind the cutting-edge RX1e car for next year, with faster acceleration and greater all-round performance than ever before courtesy of 500kW delivered to the twin motors – equivalent to 680bhp – and 880Nm of instant torque.

"It’s great to be able to reveal ALL-INKL.COM Muennich Motorsport as our second team for the 2022 FIA World Rallycross Championship campaign," Arne Dirks, Executive Director, Rallycross Promoter GmbH, said. "Since setting the team up 15 years ago, René’s tremendous passion for the sport has driven both his and his ALL-INKL.COM Muennich Motorsport’s performance to new levels, and we were all delighted to see him deservedly claim his first European Championship victory earlier this season."

Kristoffersson Motorsport commits to a three-car team for the new electric era.

PHOTO CREDIT: Johan Kristoffersson

Reigning World Rallycross Championship team Kristoffersson Motorsport (KMS) has become the first confirmed team to commit to the FIA World Rallycross Championship's new electric era by announcing a three-car team for 2022.  

Rallycross Promoter GmbH revealed last week that 14 kits have been reserved from Austrian firm Kreisel Electric, the company behind the RX1e car that is set to truly electrify World RX.

Founded by former FIA European Rallycross Championship front-runner and multiple Swedish title-winner Tommy Kristoffersson – father of three-time World Rallycross Champion Johan Kristoffersson – the eponymously-named Kristoffersson Motorsport outfit has achieved considerable success in both rallycross and touring car racing.

KMS entered the rallycross EC in the 1980s. Thereafter team-owner Tommy Kristoffersson, himself topped his career with a third-place finish in the 1993 European Championship. 

When Kristoffersson Motorsport returned to rallycross in the late 2010s, it was with son Johan Kristoffersson at the wheel. A few years later, in 2020 the team achieved their greatest success, the FIA World Rallycross Championship single handily. 

"We have already won one World Championship title with our own team last year,  but to fight for the first-ever World Championship crown with electric rallycross cars is the ultimate challenge and one that really inspires us – it was simply an opportunity that was far too good to turn down," Tommy Kristoffersson, Team Owner Kristoffersson Motorsport, said.

"We have a lot of history in rallycross – this is what we do best – and we had several options available to us for 2022, but I was not interested in starting something if we could not do it properly. Thankfully, like us, our new investors truly believe in the future of electric rallycross and are ready to embrace this exciting change.

"We have great faith in the promoter and believe these cars have fantastic development potential and will produce spectacular entertainment – they will be extremely fast. I am absolutely convinced that we will create a product that will make fans raise their eyebrows and drop their jaws."

Kristoffersson confirms that they are yet to put the important parts of the puzzle together for the new era of rallycross. 

"Now, our main focus switches to finding a manufacturer we can compete with and the right drivers to do the job..." he concludes.