SOUTH AFRICA JOINS WORLD RALLYCROSS

New circuit to be part of the WRX roster from the 2017 season

A new rallycross circuit at Cape Town in South Africa will host the final round of the World Rallycross Championship in 2017.

Series promoter IMG has revealed a multi-year deal with Killarney International Raceway to build a permanent rallycross track at the existing venue, situated near the famous Table Mountain.

The circuit is the 10th new venue that IMG has introduced to the sport since the creation of the World Championship for 2014. Away from its established homeland in Europe, so far World Rallycross has visited North America (Canada), South America (Argentina) and Asia (Turkey). Africa will be a new continent for the championship.

“Killarney is delighted to be hosting this first of its kind event in Africa. Our thousands of loyal fans and spectators, Cape Town and Table Mountain deserve no less,” said Des Easom, executive manager of the circuit that hosted a non-championship Formula 1 race in January 1960.

“Rallycross is a thrilling, highly competitive form of racing with international appeal and media coverage,” added Easom.” We look forward to working with IMG and pooling our expertise and experience on the series of events. This is a great addition to our whole-year racing calendar and spectators can look forward to an international and world-class event.”

It is not yet known if the new African round will replace one of the 12 existing events on the World RX calendar, or run as a 13th round. With the late addition of the Hockenheim round of the championship, the series had 13 events in 2015. This year’s contest will be run over 12 rounds. The 2017 calendar is yet to be revealed.