Kymi Ring to host FIA World Rallycross Championship next June in Iitti

Next June, the Kymi Ring in Iitti will host a round of the FIA World Rallycross Championship. At an information session held at the Hungarian Embassy in Helsinki, it was announced that the World Rallycross Championship will have a permanent home in Finland under a 3+2 year agreement.

Previously, Finland hosted rounds of the World Rallycross Championship in 2020 and 2021, specifically in Kouvola. Niclas Grönholm stands as the only Finnish driver in the championship.

Kymi Ring was transferred to Finland Motorsport Circuit Holding in February for approximately €3.75 million. This investor group is led by TRP Hungary, with notable figures including private investor Alex Rabb, Raorg TransLogin owner Balázs Kerék, and Mika Wilska, who manages several business incubator projects in Germany and hails from near Kouvola. Kornél Öry serves as the CEO of Finland Motorsport Circuit Holding, while Tamas Őry acts as the chairman. Other board members include Hungarian Sándor Rabb and Wilska, representing Finland.

The Kymi Ring was completed in Iitti in 2019, originally intended to be the venue for a MotoGP event, which was canceled in 2020 and 2021 due to the pandemic. In the spring of 2022, it was revealed that there were construction deficiencies at the facility, leading to the cancellation of a planned race for that summer. Kymi Ring entered corporate restructuring in summer 2022, but the effort failed, resulting in the Kumiring Oy being declared bankrupt by the district court in April 2023, leaving debts of around €22 million.