Finland rejoins World RX in new schedule

Kouvola, recently acquired by World RX team SET Promotion, effectively replacing canceled Lohéac on schedule

RallyX Nordic @ Kouvola, Round Six, 2019

Finland will return to the World Rallycross schedule for the first time since 2014 with a race at Kouvola.

The move was announced at Friday’s FIA World Motor Sport Council meeting.

The Finnish World RX round will take place on August 29-30, one week after the season opener at Höljes in Sweden, and a week before the planned French round at Lohéac that was called off last month, despite appearing on the revised 2020 schedule that was issued two weeks earlier.

Local authorities in Kouvola have already pledged €15,000 towards the event, which will be run by multiple-European Rallycross champion outfit SET Promotion rather than Finland’s national motorsport authority.

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Photo: World RX Media

Last time Finland had a round on the World RX calendar Tanner Foust was victorious in a Marklund Motorsport built and run Volkswagen Polo, becoming the first (and so far only) American to win a round of the world championship. Kouvola also featured prominently on the Euro RX schedule for several years prior to that.

The European S1600 series will also kick off its season at Kouvola, rather than Höljes, as had initially been the plan. The front-wheel-drive series will also visit Montalegre in Portugal and Barcelona.

That series will also continue to use its control ECU, introduced in 2018, for a further two seasons as a cost-cutting measure against the introduction of driver aids.

The European Supercars season meanwhile will also remain a three event affair, with stops in Sweden, Latvia, and Belgium. There is no replacement for the recently canceled Lohéac round.

Words:Dominik Wilde

Photos:RallyX Nordic Media, World RX Media

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