World RX Benelux moves to October. Norway postponed. Esports events added.

2 April    The Nederlandse Rallycross Vereniging (NRV) issues a statement in the wake of updated advice from the Dutch government, and says that the Eurocircuit at Valkenswaard will now remain closed until 1 June. The statement also adds that the Dutch ASN (KNAF) has issued a new circuit licence subject to outstanding maintenance work being completed before events take place.

3 April    Following guidance from the government on restricted training for athletes, the Norwegian ASN provides guidelines for clubs and event organisers to run training (practice) sessions. Competitive events are not permitted. “It has been communicated by the authorities that organised sports should not occur. At the same time, guidelines have now been provided for training with restrictions, and we have now drawn up our own guidelines for car sports,” said NBF General Secretary Hallgeir Raknerud.

6 April    Morgan Ostlund, General Manager of Holjes RX, is quoted in Swedish regional press saying he still hopes to organise the World RX of Sweden at Holjes. “In our mind, there is no question of canceling the competition – in the worst case we have to move it instead …. to later in July or August – the worst case through September. No later than two months before the scheduled competition on 4-5 July a decision must be made,” Ostlund is reported as saying in Varmlands Folkblad. The Swedish government has placed an open-ended ban on public gatherings of more than 50 people. 

7 April    The World RX of Benelux at Spa-Francorchamps is rescheduled and will now take place on 3-4 October. The third event in the ten-round World RX calendar to be postponed (after Barcelona-Catalunya and Portugal) the Belgian event is the first to have a revised date published. Both Barcelona and Portugal are expected to be rescheduled for later in the year. The official statement from championship promoter IMG said: “Due to directives issued by the National Security Council of Belgium, which include the suspension of all outdoor events in the country in light of global health concerns regarding COVID-19 (coronavirus), this year’s World RX of Benelux at Spa-Francorchamps on 16-17 May has been rescheduled. This decision was made after careful consideration and consultation with the FIA, the Belgian ASN and the local event organiser, as the health and safety of everyone involved remains our priority. The event has been provisionally rescheduled for 3-4 October.”

7 April    iRacing announces a six-round Esports series The Subaru iRX All-Star Invitational presented by Yokohama. Leading rallycross drivers in the series include Andreas Bakkerud, Scott Speed, Patrik Sandell and Tanner Foust together with a host of young US rallycross racers, Travis PeCoy, Cabot Bigham, Conner Martell and Christian Brooks. Travis Pastrana is also in the line-up that includes NHRA drag racer Ron Capps, Drifer Vaiughan Gittin Junior and IndyCar racer Alex Rossi. Racers and gamers Sami-Matti Trogen and Mitchell deJong also feature. The first event will run on 10 April on a virtual version of Hell in Norway before the weekly series moves to Daytona, Sonoma, Lucas Oil Raceway, Atlanta and back to Hell for the final round.

8 April    SET Esports signs DiRT Rallycross World Champion Killian Dall’olmo for its 2020 season. The16-year-old Frenchman won the DiRT title at Autosport International in January, over 76,000 competitors took part in the contest. Dall’olmo’s first appearance for SET Esports will be in the World RX Esports Barcelona invitational on 19 April, an event for which he qualified by placing second of the 8500 participants who started in the public sessions. The top three from those will start alongside a roster of World RX drivers and guest racers. Multiple real-world rallycross championship winning team SET Promotion, from Finland, which also operates the GRX Taneco team in the FIA World Rallycross Championship, ventured into Esports for the first time in 2019, running a three driver line-up. With Finn Sami-Matti Trogen, the team won the iRacing Rallycross World Championship while another Finn, Tommi Hallman, won the Digital Rallycross Finnish Championship earlier this year. “I’m excited to race in the RX Invitational, of course we all dream of being able to go as far as possible, but to race against these really big names from World RX is really cool and I’m looking forward to the event,” said Dall’olmo.

8 April    The fourth round of the French Rallycross Championship is canceled. Due to have taken place at Chateauroux on 20-21 June, the Rallycross France event has been lost because work at the venue cannot be completed. A statement from the organising Ecurie Terre du Berry said: “The repair work on the entire circuit, with the modification of the route, stopped on 17 March at noon, and we have no visibility as to the resumption of these, which does not does not allow us to currently obtain the homologation order … Thus, and out of solidarity and respect for our partners who are going through an unprecedented situation with a good number of closed establishments and also our volunteers, we have, in collaboration with the Mayor / President of Chateauroux Metropole and the Mayor of Saint Maur, decided to cancel the Chateauroux test outright for 2020, to start again with more serenity in the organisation of an event in 2021.”

8 April   The day after the Norwegian government extends the ban of public events to 15 June, the Norwegian round of the FIA World Rallycross Championship is formally postponed. A statement from World RX promoter IMG said: “Due to the decision by the Norwegian Minister of Sport and Culture to suspend all sporting events until 15 June in light of the global health concerns regarding COVID-19 (coronavirus), this year’s World RX of Norway, scheduled for 13-14 June, has been postponed. This decision was made after careful consideration and consultation with the FIA, the Norwegian ASN and the local event organizer, as the health and safety of everyone involved remains our priority. We are studying a viable alternative date for the event in conjunction with the local event organiser. We will provide further updates as soon as we have them.”