The 2020 edition of the FIA Motorsport Games has been postponed until 2021 due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.
The second running of the event, an Olympic-style competition for motorsport, was set to take place at Paul Ricard in France on October 23-25 2020, but will instead occur on October 22-24 2021. It will remain at the track near Marseille.
“Unfortunately, due to the COVID-19 crisis, we have decided to postpone the 2020 Motorsport Games to next year,” said FIA president Jean Todt. “It will leave the opportunity to ASN’s (the national sporting authority), the teams and our promoter SRO to be better prepared.
“I take the opportunity to wish the best to the Circuit Paul Ricard which celebrated its 50th anniversary last Sunday and to thank them for welcoming the next FIA Motorsport Games.”
The 2021 FIA Motorsport Games is set to expand to 15 disciplines with rallying and rallycross joining the fray. A Rally2 competition for R5 cars will be held on tarmac stages, as well as a two-wheel-drive Rally4 event, also on sealed surface stages. There will also be Historic Rally (cars from the 1970s and early ’80s with a FIA Historic Technical Passport) and Historic Regularity Rally (for cars built in 1990 or earlier) too.
Finally, a CrossKart-like rallycross competition called ‘Crosscar’ will carry the baton for rallycross.
“Moving the second edition of the FIA Motorsport Games to 2021 is the correct course of action,” said SRO Motorsports Group founder and CEO Stephane Ratel. “The event was conceived as a late-season contest with each nation represented by its most talented competitors, but many series will now race further into the year than anticipated, meaning it would have fallen during a very busy period.
“To avoid this conflict, we will begin planning for 2021 and are pleased to have confirmed a revised date at Circuit Paul Ricard. I am grateful that this decision has been reached in such good time and believe that the second edition of the FIA Motorsport Games will ultimately be stronger for it.”
