Circuit of the Americas quickly is becoming the venue of choice for FIA world championships.
COTA has reached a five-year deal to host a United States round of the FIA World Rallycross Championship starting in 2018, according to Autosport. The Austin, Texas, track is expected to begin construction on a rallycross circuit, which will be located between Turns 12 and 15, in the coming months.
“The United States of America has been on our radar since the World Championship began in 2014 but we were determined to wait for the right opportunity,” WRX managing director, Paul Bellamy, said. “We have been in discussion with several venues across the USA but COTA shared our vision for the world championship and can deliver a key objective of building a first-class rallycross facility.”
The announcement, which came after Austin hosted an action-packed Formula One U.S. Grand Prix on Sunday, marks the third FIA world championship to add the circuit to its calendar. In addition to F1, COTA also hosts a round of the World Endurance Championship.
“We are delighted to announce that another FIA world championship will be coming to COTA,” COTA chairman, Bobby Epstein, said, via Autosport. “There is no doubt that rallycross is a rapidly growing discipline — the fans can watch races in quick succession and the 600 (horsepower) cars are mightily impressive.”
The 2018 WRX event will take place Sept. 29-30, three weeks before F1 comes to town. Although COTA never has held a WRX round in its five-year existence, it won’t be the first time rallycross Supercars have slid around the facility.
X Games and Red Bull Global Rallycross previously have partnered to hold non-championship events during X Games Austin, though not since 2015.
Thumbnail photo via Red Bull Content Pool
