‘World RX in Hong Kong will be very good for the future of the sport in China’

Next weekend’s World RX of Hong Kong (11-12 November) can lay the foundations for a successful future for rallycross in China – that is the view of Yan Zhang, who is committed to driving interest in the sport in the country.

The forthcoming double-header season finale will mark the FIA World Rallycross Championship’s debut in the Asia-Pacific region, with high hopes and expectations for the event in the Central Harbourfront district, where the challenging 1,225-metre circuit will be spectacularly surrounded by skyscrapers and water.

Zhang – who participated in the FIA RX2e Championship at Germany’s Estering back in the summer, making her the first female Chinese driver ever to contest an international rallycross event – owns her own motorsport team and rallycross track in Beijing, and is bidding to unearth budding grassroots racers via her driver coaching scheme.

Indeed, she is on a mission to put China truly on the map in the dual-surface discipline, and she believes World RX of Hong Kong can play a major role.

“I wanted to go to Germany to learn about rallycross for two reasons – one, the aim of bringing a Chinese driver to the championship next year and two, to bring rallycross to China,” she explained.

“I’d like to help develop the sport right across the country and bring rallycross to major Chinese cities, and the World RX event in Hong Kong will be another big step forward in achieving that – it will be very good for the future of the sport in China.

“Rallycross isn’t so well-known in China at the moment, but it will be very popular because it is a very interesting sport for spectators. You can see all of the circuit and really enjoy watching the racing from the grandstands, and it’s possible to come to a track like the one I have in Beijing and have a go at rallycross yourself. People will enjoy that.”