The inaugural Russian World Rallycross event has been scrapped after the championship promoters and event organisers couldn’t come to an agreement.
Russia’s first World RX round was set to take place at the new Igora Drive circuit near St. Petersburg. The Hermann Tilke-designed venue opened in 2019 and is scheduled to host the DTM and W Series this year.
The WRX event, scheduled for July 18/19, was always listed as being subject to FIA approval and circuit homologation, but following the first 2020 meeting of the FIA World Motorsport Council, the Russian round has been pulled from the calendar.
“The reason for such changes was long negotiations with the promoter of the series and failure to reach an agreement,” said a statement from the Russian Automobile Federation (RAF). “Aware of their responsibility to athletes and fans, a choice was made in favor of cancelling the competition.
“The RAF confirms that the race track is ready, the level of training of officials and judges allows the competition to be held at a high organizational level. We hope that in the future we will be able to host the stage of the World Rallycross Championship on the modern race track of the Igora Drive circuit.”
There will now be a month-long gap between the ‘Magic Weekend’ at Holjes in Sweden and the maiden World RX event at the Nürburgring, with a replacement for the Russian round unlikely.
The Nürburgring round will also now feature European S1600 on the bill to make up for the canned Russia event.
