Red Bull Global Rallycross director of competition Joey Mancari has given a long-awaited update on the series’ plans to run an all-electric category.

Announced earlier this year with the tentative launch date of 2018, the series — the first of its kind announced anywhere in the world — is now slated to begin in 2019.

The category is still in its “developmental stages” and Red Bull GRC has had a number of interested parties come forward to express an interest, including three-time defending champions Volkswagen Andretti Rallycross, with Michael Andretti saying he would be keen to expand into the series.

However, before teams and manufacturers commit to building new cars, the rulebook needs to be finalised – something Mancari said is still a work in progress.

“We’re absolutely committed to having an electric series but currently it’s kind of a moving target as far as is it one motor, two motors — the chances are it’s going to be two; one front, one rear — how the car is going to be built, whether it’s a tube chassis or body-on-white type of situation so there’s a lot of different things we have to work through that we’re fast-tracking,” Mancari revealed exclusively to The Checkered Flag.

“We’re totally on it and moving forward,” he added. “The interest in it is great moving forward, [that’s] awesome, it’s just that right now I couldn’t say ‘it’s this, this, this, and this’ and point out 16 different items, I can just say here’s the target and where we’re going and the launch in 2019 is where we’re looking.”

Speaking of the shifted launch date, Mancari said that aiming for 2018 “was [a] pretty bold statement,” but insisted the series was on track for a 2019 launch.



“We would have liked to have got to an ’18 programme, I don’t even know if the manufacturers that are interested could’ve reacted quick enough to be in a 2018 situation,” he said.

