The Spa Francorchamps circuit has ever since 1921 been known as one of the best racetracks in the world.
It’s been a part of the Formula 1 calendar for several years, in addition to various GT and sportscar racing – and not to forget, at lot of national races.
A new chapter will be written in their history in 2019, when the FIA World Rallycross Championship will race at the circuit. That was announced today by IMG, who is behind the World RX, and the circuit itself.
The track layout and the date isn’t set just yet, but the organizers says that the Eau Rouge section of the track will be a part of it. That could potentially mean, that they will have to remove parts of forest, to make a loop, since a Rallycross track typically is about 1 kilometres long. So they can’t just send the cars on the 7 kilometres loop, making a detour over one of the gravel traps.
Photo: JJ Media
The race will be run as The Spa FIA World Rallycross of Benelux, which is a brand new event for the series. There has been racing in Mettet in Belgium as recently as this year, but that has always been known as the Belgium round.
World RX slowly goes towards racing on more and more international Formula 1 circuit. Hockenheim was part of the calendar from 2015 until 2017, Circuit de Catalunya has hosted a round since 2015, while Silverstone and COTA joined in 2018. Earlier this month, we had an announcement that the Formula 1 track in Abu Dhabi will host the opening round in 2019. All these new events happens at the cost of some good old classic tracks like Lydden Hill in Great Britain, which no longer hosts any World RX events, even though it was the birthplace of Rallycross back in 1967.
The final schedule for the FIA World Rallycross Championship 2019 will be announced shortly.
