Autosportfoto

RallycrossRX named european race series of the year

The FIA European Rallycross Championship has been named as 'European Race Series of the Year' at the Professional MotorSport World Expo Awards.

The award was made to championship promoter IMG Motorsport, part of IMG Worldwide, the global sports, fashion and media company that took over the commercial rights to the FIA European Rallycross Championship from the FIA at the end of 2012.

The award caps an exciting year for the FIA European Rallycross Championship and is the perfect curtain raiser to the launch of the new FIA World Rallycross Championship in 2014.

"This is a great honour for all those involved in our first season running the FIA European Rallycross Championship on behalf of the FIA, especially considering last year's winner was the top class DTM series," said Martin Anayi, Managing Director of the FIA European Rallycross Championship. "We've been delighted with the immediate success of the Championship, the public and media interest around the sport of RallycrossRX and the calibre of drivers we've been able to attract in our first year. RallycrossRX has huge potential for growth and this will be emphasised next season when we move to full FIA World Championship status."

The influential and respected awards were presented at a gala dinner at the end of the first day of the Professional MotorSport World Expo, held in Cologne, Germany.

The trade-only show attracts more than 7000 industry professionals and over 230 exhibitors. The FIA European Rallycross Championship succeeds the DTM which was voted European Race Series of the Year in 2012.

The 2013 FIA European Rallycross Championship took place over nine rounds across Europe which included two of the largest rallycross crowds of all time with the Swedish event at Holjes attracting 30,000 spectators and the historic French event in Loheac boasting a record-breaking crowd of over 72,000 spectators to see the likes of Sebastian Loeb and Kris Meeke take on championship regulars such as former World Rally champion Petter Solberg.

The FIA World Motor Sport Council recently approved the creation of a FIA World Rallycross Championship for 2014. The first World Championship for rallycross, the new series has been developed from the FIA European Rallycross Championship that IMG has successfully run under the RallycrossRX brand in 2013. The FIA World Rallycross Championship will be run over 11 or 12 events through Europe, the Americas and the Middle East in 2014.