Following the conclusion of FIA’s World Motor Sport Council meeting, held at Paris today (December 15), the calendar for the 2022 FIA World Rallycross Championship – the first one to be run with all-electric cars – as well as a number of format changes were approved by the WMSC.
Nevertheless the calendar contains several “TBCs”, “subject to track homologation”, “subject to COVID restrictions” and is also “subject to Promotor Agreement”, the goal is to have twelve rounds spread out over seven events.
The first two (Höljes in Sweden and the Nürburgring in Germany) will be stand alone events while the remaining five (Hell in Norway, Riga in Latvia, Montalegre in Portugal, Spa-Francorchamps in Belgium and Cape Town in South Africa) will be double header events.
The FIA RX2e championship is set to join the events in Sweden, Germany, Norway, Latvia and Belgium.
Apart of the full electric series also FIA European Rallycross Championships will take place for RX1 cars and RX3 cars. Both championships will count six events with among others the return of Nyirád in Hungary to the series.
The different calendars for the 2022 season look as follows:
2022 FIA World Rallycross Championship
| July 2-3 | Round 1 | Höljes, Sweden |
| July 30-31 | Round 2 | Nürburgring, Germany |
| August 13-14 | Rounds 3/4 | Hell, Norway (*) |
| September 3-4 | Rounds 5/6 | Rīga, Latvia |
| September 17-18 | Rounds 7/8 | Montalegre, Portugal (*) |
| October 8-9 | Rounds 9/10 | Spa-Francorchamps, Belgium |
| TBC | Rounds 11/12 | Cape Town, South Africa (°)(°°) |
2022 FIA RX2e Championship
| July 2-3 | Round 1 | Höljes, Sweden |
| July 30-31 | Round 2 | Nürburgring, Germany |
| August 13-14 | Round 3 | Hell, Norway (*) |
| September 3-4 | Round 4 | Rīga, Latvia |
| October 8-9 | Round 5 | Spa-Francorchamps, Belgium |
2022 FIA European RX1 Rallycross Championship
| May 21-22 | Round 1 | Nyirád, Hungary (*) |
| June 18-19 | Round 2 | TBC (*) |
| July 2-3 | Round 3 | Höljes, Sweden |
| September 3-4 | Round 4 | Rīga, Latvia |
| September 17-18 | Round 5 | Montalegre, Portugal (*) |
| October 8-9 | Round 6 | Spa-Francorchamps, Belgium |
2022 FIA European RX3 Rallycross Championship
| May 21-22 | Round 1 | Nyirád, Hungary (*) |
| June 18-19 | Round 2 | TBC (*) |
| July 2-3 | Round 3 | Höljes, Sweden |
| July 30-31 | Round 4 | Nürburgring, Germany |
| August 13-14 | Round 5 | Hell, Norway (*) |
| September 17-18 | Round 6 | Montalegre, Portugal (*) |
(**) subject to COVID restrictions!
Format Changes
Apart from the calendar also a number of format changes for the upcoming season were approved by the WMSC.
Heats
In 2022 the qualifying heats are being renamed Heat 1, Heat 2 and Heat 3 instead of Q1, Q2 and Q3.
Furthermore, there will be 3 heats only as opposed to the 4 qualifyings that have existed over the last eight years. In case of a double header event only 2 heats will be driven, used to be 3 qualifyings.
SuperPole
A new element of suspense is the “SuperPole”. Instead of a draw, heat 1 starting positions will be decided in a single timed lap.
Progression Race
Q4 will be replaced by a “progression race” to add one more decisive stage in the progress of the event towards access to the semi-finals. Starting position distribution for this progression race will be determined according to the ranking after the three heats. The top ten drivers from the progression race will advance to the semi-finals.
Semi-Finals and Final
The final phase remains with semi-finals and a final, but with five-car starts in a row instead of the traditional stacked order. The first two of each semi-final together with the best placed third place finisher making it into the final.
All races, from the very first one all the way to the final, will feature a maximum of five cars, starting line-abreast and competing over five laps.
Championship points
Championship points will only be awarded at the end of the weekend, according to the following breakdown from first place down to 15th:
20–16–13–12–11–10–9–8–7–6–5–4–3–2–1
Other changes include no use of the joker lap section allowed in the opening lap in case the joker lap section entry is in the first corner.
Apart from the FIA World Rallycross Championship, the mentioned format changes also apply to the other championships with the only exception that the starting positions for Heat 1 will be determined by a draw and not by a SuperPole lap.