Report: World Rallycross may include electric race cars soon

With manufacturers slowly going green and more manufacturers joining Formula E, electric and hybrid vehicles are also beginning to enter FIA sanctioned races. The latest series that will include electric vehicles will be the World Rallycross Championship. World Rallycross series promoter IMG has confirmed that they are in talks with the FIA to bring in electric technology to the series.

“We’re talking to a number of manufacturers and working with the FIA about what it [electric rallycross] might look like,” said Paul Bellamy, World Rallycross Managing Director to Motorsports.com.

Several manufacturers have already stated interest in an electric rallycross. Mainly, these manufacturers are ones currently participating in the series, but also have expertise in electric technology – Peugeot, Volkswagen and Audi.

Despite the addition of electric vehicles in the future, Bellamy assures the public that internal combustion engines will stay in the series and will not be replaced by electric vehicles. In fact, the FIA wants the electric rallycross vehicles to run separately from their internal combustion engine counterparts.

For those unfamiliar with the sport, World Rallycross races take place over four laps during qualifying, and six laps during semi-finals and finals, in a mixed-surface displace. Currently, there is only one class, which is the supercar class. However as mentioned earlier, electric vehicles are set to get their own class. Organizers expect electric vehicles to be participating in the series as early as 2020.

Source: Motorsports.com