BRC: Croft off rallycross calendar

Croft will not host the British Rallycross Championship in 2010 after the track’s owners took the decision to concentrate on its circuit racing programme.

The North Yorkshire venue has come under increasing pressure to limit its motorsport activities this year after a court ruling limited the circuit to no more than 40 ‘noisy’ days following complaints from local residents.

That limit includes all track days and events and has left space on Croft’s schedule at a premium for the 2010 season. Circuit owners have now decided to concentrate racing activities on the most ‘commercially viable’ series, leaving the British Rallycross Championship off the schedule.

Chief Executive of track owner the BARC, Dennis Carter, said: “We have had to take this decision purely on commercial grounds and sadly, there will be no rallycross at Croft next year.

“With having the operating restrictions in place we now have following the High Court injunction, we have to carefully look at how best to utilise the days available to us and, sadly, rallycross doesn’t fit with our plans at present but we hope to review the situation for 2011.”

Rallycross has been a fixture at Croft for the past two decades, with events even taking place in the 1980s when the circuit fell into disrepair and didn’t host any track racing.

“It’s a crying shame that it’s come to this,” said European Rallycross competitor Kevin Procter who lives near the circuit. “Only having 40 competitive days a year now has had a severe impact on Croft.

“As a businessman, I fully understand what the BARC are doing and I’d do exactly the same as rallycross doesn’t bring in the revenue of other events.

“But it also means I can’t use my car at a facility just a few miles up the road, nor entertain my guests and sponsors like I usually do. But these things happen. I just hope other events don’t go the same way and maybe rallycross will feature at Croft again in the future.”

Carter wouldn’t rule out the return of Rallycross in 2011, and BRC promoter Amy Doran said she hoped the championship could prove its viability and return to Croft’s calendar.

“As a circuit operator as well as championship promoter I completely understand how and why the BARC has made the decision it has,” she told Autosport.

“However, I am disappointed that I have not had the chance to prove the viability of the British championship events at Croft. We will run at other BARC circuits next year and I have to use those events to prove to Dennis Carter what we can do and hope that BARC will give us a chance at Croft in the future.”

Watch the British Rallycross Championship on Motors TV.


Andy Wilkinson