Global delays start in date shift

The calendar for the Global Rallycross Championship has been changed with the Las Vegas event that was to have opened the season now moved to September where it will be the last round. Slated to have been a standalone event that would allow the organisation to play itself in, Las Vegas will now also also partner up with a NASCAR event, schedule to share the bill with a NASCAR Camping World Truck Series event on September 29. Additonally the event at Atlanta that was to have been the final round of the series is now listed as being ‘tentative, subject to change’.

The date change of the Las Vegas event may present a problem for drivers aiming to drive in both the GRC and European Rallycross Championship. Date clashes between the two championships existed, and persist, with the Austrian ERC and the Charlotte GRC, as well as the Swedish ERC and GRC’s X Games. With Austria and Sweden falling into the first and second half of the ERC, however, these were clashes that competitors could deal with, even if it meant that by missing events they did not have the safety of a drop score. Las Vegas being moved means that it now clashes with the ERC finale in Germany, so any driver trying to do both, will be forced at that point to make a choice between the two championships. GRC said that the decision to move the Las Vegas race was at the request of venue partner SMI, “We will be replacing a standalone event with an event with a historical attendance of 60,000+ … significant additional marketing exposure and sponsorship support from local development organisations for the event by having our championship finale in Las Vegas.”

There is no information about the reason for the question mark over Atlanta, although observers of the series had questioned whether the venue had sufficient space to accommodate a Rallycross track.

• 2012 Global Rallycross Championship
• Friday – Saturday May 25 – 26, NASCAR Coca-Cola 600, Charlotte Motor Speedway
• Friday – Saturday June 8 – 9, IndyCar Firestone 550, Texas Motor Speedway
• Friday – Saturday June 29 – 30, X Games 18, Staples Center, Los Angeles
• Sunday July 1, X Games 18, Staples Center, Los Angeles
• Friday – Saturday July 13 – 14, NASCAR Lenox Industrial Tools 301, New Hampshire Motor Speedway
• Friday – Saturday August 31 – September 1, NASCAR AdvoCare 500, Atlanta Motor Speedway *
• Friday – Saturday September 28 – 29, NASCAR Truck, Las Vegas Motor Speedway
• * Tentative, subject to change

X Games 18 moves up to form rounds two and three in GRC date switch. © Jan Tore Brustad/RallycrossWorld.com