Photo: FIA ETCR

Sachsenring to host FIA ETCR season finale, Turkey officially cancelled

The FIA ETCR will head to the German circuit of Sachsenring for the final round of the 2022 season after an event on the weekend of 23-25 September was approved by the FIA World Motor Sport Council.

The series presented an initial calendar with seven rounds that initially included events at Istanbul Park in Turkey and the Inje Speedium in South Korea, although the former was postponed at the last minute with the plan to then run it in November instead.

However, the Turkish round has now been officially cancelled for contractual reasons, whilst the Korean race had also to be cancelled due to the logistics involved in getting cars and equipment to the venue.

“We have to cancel Korea because of the logistic disruption everywhere,” ETCR series director Xavier Gavory told TouringCarTimes. “To go to Korea you have to go through China, and it’s still locked, and we are facing a 5-10 week delay, so we cannot take the risk.

“The is very frustrating for us, because we work very hard, but it would not have been safe to take the series there as the risk of nothing happening was really high.”

The Sachsenring event will also serve as a home race for Hyundai Motorsport N, which is based in Germany at Alzenau.

ETCR will join the ADAC GT Masters package for the meeting, meaning it will run alongside the TCR Germany series.

“Sachsenring will be the first visit of FIA ETCR to the massive automotive market of Germany and we will be showcasing electric racing a stone’s throw from one of Europe’s largest electric car production facilities,” added Gavory. “It is fantastic to be able to visit such a vital market and we are particularly grateful to ADAC for their proactive approach in making this event happen.”

The 2022 season finale will also be brought forward by two months, which Gavory believes will be a benefit for the teams involved in the series.

“The earlier conclusion of the season as agreed by all teams enables everyone to focus on the build-up to our second season,” added the ETCR series director.

“2023 will see an enlarged grid with a greater commitment from all our teams and the future looks bright. We are all determined to end our first FIA ETCR season with a fantastic showcase of our tremendous series and are confident that the Sachsenring will be the perfect platform for this.”