The World Rallycross Championship has struggled for momentum in recent years.
The series’ top class was electrified for the 2022 season, but the change didn’t attract major manufacturers — instead, the grid was largely made up of private teams and familiar faces. As 2024 approached, the series was put up for sale, but no buyers emerged.
With no external promoter stepping in, the FIA took over the running of the championship and made a bold opening move: every round of the season would be streamed for free on the official YouTube channel. What’s more, the season-opening weekend in Lousada, Portugal, held at the end of May, was also free to attend for spectators.
Lousada is a hallowed venue for rally fans — it even hosts a spectator stage in Portugal’s WRC round — and the local heritage helped pack the venue for World RX’s return. According to the FIA, around half a million people watched Sunday’s finals via stream, and thousands attended in person.
“It definitely exceeded my expectation on every level. The ASN, the local organizer was just superb – support like this makes our job in organizing championships so much easier,” FIA’s Director of Road Sport, Emilia Abel, told DirtFish.
“In six weeks, the local organizing team had a national [rallycross] event in April, then they had WRC, then they had our official test event [for World RX] and then they had World RX. And from the event on Thursday night in the center of Lousada to introduce the local population to World RX all the way to the end of the event on Sunday.”
The FIA has relaunched the series under the “Battle of the Technologies” concept, where combustion and electric powertrains now compete head-to-head in the top category. After Lousada, the season will continue at another iconic venue — Höljes in Sweden — with further rounds planned in Hungary, Finland and Turkey. The season finale’s location is still to be confirmed.
“I’m sure you saw the images, from Thursday night until the finish, it was spectacular. We had huge crowds, a fantastic atmosphere, lots of people watching for free on the live stream, great racing and amazing weather,” Abel said.
“World Rallycross made people stand up and cheer again last week. We made people smile. That’s a great start. We know there is more work to do, this is just the beginning.”
