The second season of Global RallyCross Championship competition expands to five dates in addition to the two days of competition at X Games Los Angeles 2012 for a total of seven rounds of competition.  Each round will be televised live on ESPN or ESPN2 as well as ESPN 3D.  Expanded coverage during X Games Los Angeles 2012 will feature even more of the heat race action.  ESPN’s broadcasts of the NASCAR Nationwide Series are the anticipated lead-ins to four of the Global RallyCross telecasts, each ideally placed to broaden the audience among core motorsports viewers.

Photo: David Karey/DirtyImpreza.com

The five dates for 2012 GRC competition are slated for the following*:

Sunday, April 15 at 10:00 PM on ESPN2

Saturday, May 5 at 6:00 PM on ESPN

Saturday, May 20 at 4:30 PM on ESPN

Saturday, June 2 at 4:30 PM on ESPN

Saturday, July 14 at 6:00 PM on ESPN

*All times are Eastern and based on final confirmation of NASCAR’s schedule.

In addition, X Games will again take place in Downtown Los Angeles around the Staples Center and LA Live! on from June 28 to July 1 with rally racing on June 30 and July 1.  Air times are still to be determined.

2011 GRC Champion Tanner Foust is expected to return and defend his crown along with X Games Rally Gold winners Brian Deegan and Liam Doran, and most of the stars of the 2011 series, plus some exciting new faces like Travis Pastrana and Ken Block for 2012.

Photo: David Karey/DirtyImpreza.com

“GRC in 2011 proved that there is an appetite and an audience for a new kind of motorsport.  The ratings for the first three broadcasts this year were better than we expected, especially considering that they aired as much as two weeks after the live event.  Then we got to X Games 17 and the ratings for the four hours of live rally coverage were right at the top of the overall X Games broadcasting, not to mention the response that we received from on online and social media platforms throughout the season,” said GRC President, Brian Gale.  “With two more dates than we had this year, live coverage and the accumulation of all the lessons we learned, there is no doubt that in 2012 we will deliver exponential growth and improvements in all areas of the series.”

Going to live television broadcasts in 2012 was part of the plan from the beginning of the series.  The high broadcast ratings from the last GRC event and X Games 17 confirmed that GRC will deliver in 2012.

An announcement on venues for each of the events will be reveled in the coming weeks, but expect the series to visit top metropolitan areas across the country.

Competition format and technical regulations for all rounds of the 2012 Global RallyCross Championship will also be announced in the Fall.