Spa World Rallycross round postponed until October

The Spa circuit, which joined the World RX roster last year, was originally planned host the the third round of the 2020 season on May 16-17.

But, with the Spanish and Portuguese events already postponed due to the ongoing Coronavirus pandemic, the Belgian circuit had become the temporary de facto season-opener, although it has been highly unlikely for some time that the event would be able to go ahead.

The Belgian round has now been penciled into the calendar for an October 3-4 slot, in a gap in the original schedule between events in Latvia and Abu Dhabi.

“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 has been re-scheduled,” said a World RX statement.

“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.”

That pushes the opening round of the series to the Norwegian event at Hell in June, but, the Norwegian Government announced on Tuesday that no sports or cultural events can now be held until after June 15, the day after the World RX event on the Lankebanen circuit near Trondheim had been scheduled to take place (13-14).

The next event on the schedule, in its traditional first-weekend-of-July slot, is currently the Swedish round at Holjes.

But organiser Morgan Ostlund was quoted in local media on Monday stating that his team is now in discussions about alternative date solutions later in the year, as it requires a minimum of two months from confirmation that the event can take place to prepare for its World RX round, held in the remote Varmland forests.