World Rallycross Championship: Hong Kong organisers to build half-mud, half-tarmac circuit on city’s iconic harbourfront
- The 1km course will take 4 days to build and officials hope it will attract fans to November event
- Season finale expected to cost US$10 million to stage with organisers looking for government support
World Rallycross organisers are planning a half-mud, half-tarmac course in central Hong Kong that will take four days to build for the sport’s season finale in the city later this year.
The 1km track will see cars catapulted around the circuit at speeds faster than Formula One, and officials hope to use the same area that hosted the Formula E race in 2019.
Although the government has yet to sign off on the use of a nearby road for the FIA World Rallycross Championship, promoter Leslie Wong is hopeful the convenient harbourfront location will encourage plenty of fans to attend the “exciting event”.
“We have to transport abundant mud to the area which requires four days non-stop work and hopefully we can use the nearby Lung Wo Road as the tarmac surface so that we can save cost,” he said at Tuesday’s launch for the event. “We still need to talk to the government for assistance for the road usage.
“Not only the venue, we also need the support of the government’s ‘M’ mark event as we are still negotiating with commercial sponsors.”
Wong, whose company has a three-year agreement to host rallycross in China, said putting on the event in November would cost an estimated US$10 million and commercial support would play an important role on top of government funding, which provides organisers of designated events a maximum HK$15 million (US$1.9 million) matching grant.
“We definitely want to make the Hong Kong leg a great success in its first year as we are planning to expand it to a second leg in China next year,” Wong said.
“The Central Harbourfront is a landmark of Hong Kong with its iconic skyline. It’s also the only urban circuit of the series which will be a great attraction to the drivers as they all look forward to the finale of the season in Hong Kong.”
Launched in 2014, rallycross series showcases head-to-head, short, sharp racing on mixed surfaces within amphitheatre-like venues. Drivers are equipped with cars that catapult them from 0-60mph in a mere 1.8 seconds.
Last year the series entered a new era in going fully electric towards a more sustainable future. In November, 12 cars from five teams will compete in the last leg in Hong Kong, with the season winner crowned at the end.
The 2023 world series will kick off in Portugal in June for six legs in Europe before moving to Cape Town in October with Hong Kong the last stop from November 11 to 12.
