The final 2011 meeting of the World Motor Sport Council (WMSC) took place in New Delhi, India, (7 December). The FIA President, Jean Todt, opened the meeting by thanking Vijay Mallya and Vicky Chandhok for their hospitality and for hosting the week of FIA meetings in India.
The following decisions were taken:
FIA FORMULA ONE WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP
Changes to the 2012 Technical Regulations
• All engine standard ECU set up and control parameters, which were formerly contained only within a Technical Directive, are now contained within the relevant parts of the Technical Regulations.• The exhaust tailpipes are now strictly regulated in order to ensure that the aerodynamic effect exhaust gases have on the car is kept to an absolute minimum.• Better marking of in-car emergency switches operated by marshals are now stipulated.• The side impact structures will now have to be subjected to a further (upward) push-off test.
Changes to the 2012 Sporting Regulations
• Cars may no longer take part in pre-season testing without having passed all crash tests.• There will now be a maximum race time of four hours to ensure that a lengthy suspension of a race does not result in a race that could run up to eight hours if left unregulated.• Before the safety car returns to the pits all lapped cars will be allowed to unlap themselves and then join the back of the pack, ensuring a clean re-start without slower cars impeding those racing for the leading positions.• Cars which were in the pit lane when a race is suspended will now be allowed to re-join the cars on the grid in the position they were in when the race was suspended.• Drivers may no longer leave the track without a justifiable reason, i.e. cutting a chicane on reconnaissance laps or ‘in’ laps to save time and fuel.• Drivers may no longer move back onto the racing line having moved off it to defend a position.• One three-day test will be carried out during the season, formerly there were none.• All stewards’ decisions which are not subject to appeal are now in one place instead of being in various places within the regulations.• All tyres allocated to a driver may now be used on the first day of practice; formerly only three sets were permitted.
The 2012 FIA Formula One World Championship calendar was confirmed as previously published.
* see below
FIA WORLD RALLY CHAMPIONSHIP
The World Motor Sport Council discussed the recent developments involving the Championship Promoter, North One Sport, and its parent company, CSI, which has gone into administration. The FIA is committed to ensuring the long-term commercial future of the Championship and will make every endeavour to provide for its future stability. The FIA is working on an immediate plan to ensure the fundamental sporting and safety elements will be in place for the start of the 2012 season.
As a consequence, it was also agreed that the registration date for the 2012 FIA World Rally Championship for Manufacturers be put back to 19 December.
The WMSC agreed that, for safety reasons, a total of 10 tyres of a different compound may be used in place of the nominated compound, when specified as an option in the Supplementary Regulations of an event. The total quantity of tyres to be used during an event will however not change.
The date for the 2012 Rally de España has been changed to 8-11 November.
RALLYING
From 2013, R4T cars will be eligible in the FIA Regional Rally Championships. This new category of four-wheel-drive cars is designed to be cost-effective and more affordable for competitors. The acceptance of different category cars within the FIA World and Regional Rally Championships will be confirmed during 2012.
FIA WORLD CUP FOR CROSS COUNTRY RALLIES
Following satisfactory Observer’s Reports, the WMSC confirmed the inclusion of two additional events in the 2012 FIA World Cup for Cross Country Rallies. The Sealine Cross Country Rally event in Qatar will take place between 15-21 April, while Baja Poland will run from 13-16 September. The date of the Rally of Tunisia has also been changed to 8-13 May to provide for a more balanced calendar.
OFF ROAD
In the interest of cost reduction and equality among competitors, it is confirmed that one engine and two turbos are permitted to be used in each event qualifying for the 2012 FIA European Rallycross Championship. Any breach will incur a drop of eight places on the ranking obtained before the start of the Finals, in which eight drivers are now permitted to take part in A, B and C-Finals.
FIA EUROPEAN DRAG RACING CHAMPIONSHIP
From 2012, the length of the competition area for Top Fuel Dragsters will be 1000 feet (304.78m), rather than the traditional quarter mile.
FIA WORLD ENDURANCE CHAMPIONSHIP
The date for the opening of entries is confirmed as 19 December and the closing date for competitors contesting the entire Championship will be 18 January 2012. The Endurance Selection Committee - comprised equally by members of the FIA and ACO - will meet on the 25 January and the final entry list for the 2012 FIA World Endurance Championship will be published on 2 February.
Exceptionally, additional cars may be admitted for one or more events subject to their conformity with the applicable technical and homologation regulations, and also the interest they will bring to the Championship. These cars will appear in the event classification but will be invisible for the different classifications for the Championship.
For the Le Mans 24 Hours event only, the manufacturers entered in the FIA World Endurance Championship for LMP1 Manufacturers may, subject to agreement of the Selection Committee, enter a third car, which will be eligible to score points in the Championship. Only the top two classified cars of a manufacturer will be entitled to score points in the Championship however.
The 2012 calendar is confirmed as follows:
17/03 USA 12 Hours of Sebring Sebring* 05/05 BEL 6 Heures de Spa‐Francorchamps Spa‐Francorchamps* 16-17/06 FRA 24 Heures du Mans Le Mans 25/08 GBR 6 Hours of Silverstone Silverstone* 15/09 BRA 6 Hours of Sao Paulo Interlagos 29/09 BHR 6 Hours of Bahrain Sakhir 14/10 JPN 6 Hours of Fuji Mount‐Fuji TBA (Nov) CHN 6 Hours of TBA TBA*
* Subject to the ASN confirmation
FIA GT1 WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP
Following discussions between the promoter SRO, teams and manufacturers/tuners concerning the organisation of the 2012 FIA GT1 World Championship, the WMSC agreed a need to support series Promoter, SRO, in its efforts to secure the future of the Championships in a difficult economic climate. As a result, the WMSC accepted the Commission’s proposal to run the 2012 FIA GT1 World Championship with GT3 cars, as the existing field of GT1 cars is no longer sufficient. The World Championship will run side by side with the FIA GT3 European Championship on European events.
The 2012 calendar will be confirmed within one week and available on fia.com.
FIA WORLD TOURING CAR CHAMPIONSHIP
From January 2012, the Championship will be reserved for competitors driving Super 2000 cars as defined in Article 263 of the 2011 Appendix J. In addition, competitors with cars in conformity with the 2010 Appendix J will continue to be accepted on a race-by-race basis together with competitors with cars in compliance of the technical regulations of a national Championship (subject to approval of the Touring Car Committee). The sporting regulations will be available from 15 December on fia.com.
To enhance interest in the competition, the distance of a Championship event has been increased. Each race will run over a minimum of 50 kilometres and maximum of 60 kilometres, as defined in the Appendix specific to each event.
The system for calculating the compensation weights has been simplified for 2012.
The FIA World Touring Car Championship will comprise 12 events in total, three of which will run jointly with rounds of the FIA European Touring Car Cup.
The calendar is confirmed as follows:
11/03 ITA Monza Monza 01/04 ESP Valencia* / ** Valencia Ricardo Tormo 15/04 MAR Marrakech* Marrakech 06/05 HUN Hungaroring Hungaroring 20/05 AUT Salzburgring Salzburgring 03/06 PRT Estoril Estoril (subject to the contract with the promoter) 08/07 ARG TBA TBA 22/07 BRA Curitiba Curitiba 23/09 USA Infineon* Infineon 21/10 JPN Suzuka Suzuka International 04/11 CHN Shanghai* Shanghai International 18/11 MAC Macau Macau Guia Circuit
* Subject to the ASN’s confirmation** Subject to the homologation of the circuit
FIA FORMULA E CHAMPIONSHIP
The FIA Formula E Championship is set to start in 2013. The Electric and New Energy Championships Commission has been working on two main points, the first concerns the safety aspects for Electric Vehicles (EVs) and the development of a safety protocol for marshals and rescue teams working at events in which these kinds of vehicles are involved. The second is related to the definition of technical specifications and the issue of two calls for expression of interest, one for promotion which is on-going, and the second for car manufacture, which will be launched in the next few days. All the related proposals will be presented to the WMSC in March 2012.
WOMEN IN MOTOR SPORT
The Women in Motor Sport Ambassadors programme will be launched during 2012, together with the organisation of the first seminar dedicated to the National Co-ordinators who are designated by the ASNs.
In addition, a ‘Task Force’ will be created within the Commission to identify future talent in the sport.
HISTORIC MOTOR SPORT
From 2012, Period J1 cars will be eligible for the FIA European Historic Sporting Rally Championship.
A number of historic hill-climb and rally calendars were confirmed for 2012.
KARTING
The following event has been added into the 2012 calendar:
CIK-FIA U-18 World Championship & CIK-FIA Academy Trophy (round 3)
01-03/11 BHR Bahrain
COMMISSIONSAfter a full review of the FIA Commissions, all the Presidents were confirmed, with the exception of the Single-Seater Commission where, due to personal reasons, current President Barry Bland stepped down. Gerhard Berger was appointed as the new President of the Single-Seater Commission.
CALENDARS & SPORTING REGULATIONS
The WMSC adopted 2012 calendars for a number of FIA series, Championships, Cups and Trophies for modern and historic races and rallies around the world. The international calendar and sporting regulations will be available on fia.com from 15 December.
2012 FIA Formula One World Championship Race Calendar
01 2012 FORMULA 1 AUSTRALIAN GRAND PRIX (Melbourne) 16 - 18 Mar 02 2012 FORMULA 1 PETRONAS MALAYSIA GRAND PRIX (Kuala Lumpur) 23 - 25 Mar 03 2012 FORMULA 1 UBS CHINESE GRAND PRIX (Shanghai) 13 - 15 Apr 04 2012 FORMULA 1 GULF AIR BAHRAIN GRAND PRIX (Sakhir) 20 - 22 Apr 05 FORMULA 1 GRAN PREMIO DE ESPAÑA SANTANDER 2012 (Catalunya) 11 - 13 May 06 FORMULA 1 GRAND PRIX DE MONACO 2012 (Monte Carlo) 24 - 27 May 07 FORMULA 1 GRAND PRIX DU CANADA 2012 (Montréal) 08 - 10 Jun 08 2012 FORMULA 1 GRAND PRIX OF EUROPE (Valencia) 22 - 24 Jun 09 2012 FORMULA 1 SANTANDER BRITISH GRAND PRIX (Silverstone) 06 - 08 Jul 10 FORMULA 1 GROSSER PREIS SANTANDER VON DEUTSCHLAND 2012 (Hockenheim) 20 - 22 Jul 11 FORMULA 1 ENI MAGYAR NAGYDÍJ 2012 (Budapest) 27 - 29 Jul 12 2012 FORMULA 1 SHELL BELGIAN GRAND PRIX (Spa-Francorchamps) 31 Aug - 02 Sep 13 FORMULA 1 GRAN PREMIO SANTANDER D'ITALIA 2012 (Monza) 07 - 09 Sep 14 2012 FORMULA 1 SINGTEL SINGAPORE GRAND PRIX (Singapore) 21 - 23 Sep 15 2012 FORMULA 1 JAPANESE GRAND PRIX (Suzuka) 05 - 07 Oct 16 2012 FORMULA 1 KOREAN GRAND PRIX (Yeongam) 12 - 14 Oct 17 2012 FORMULA 1 AIRTEL GRAND PRIX OF INDIA (New Delhi) 26 - 28 Oct 18 2012 FORMULA 1 ETIHAD AIRWAYS ABU DHABI GRAND PRIX (Yas Marina Circuit) 02 - 04 Nov 19 2012 FORMULA 1 UNITED STATES GRAND PRIX (Austin) 16 - 18 Nov 20 FORMULA 1 GRANDE PRÊMIO DO BRASIL 2012 (São Paulo) 23 - 25 Nov
