The General Headquarters of the Korea National Sports Promotion Organization (Chairman Cho Hyun-jae) has announced the 2024 racing operation plan.
According to the finalized race operation plan, the 2024 season will be held from January 5 to December 29, with a total of 51 races in 156 days and 2496 races per year, an increase of 96 races per day compared to the 2023 season.
For the 2024 season, which marks the 30th anniversary of the opening of Gyeongju, the Gyeongju Racing Headquarters has been making various efforts to improve the system to make racing more exciting and enhance competitiveness among athletes.
The main improvements include widening the gap between race points earned by athletes based on their ranking. The difference of ±1 point between rankings will be increased to ±2 points to encourage athletes to compete fiercely for rankings.
Currently, the seventh place in the specialty class earns the same amount of points as the first place in the excellent class, but after the improvement, the seventh place in the specialty class will earn the same amount of points as the fourth place in the excellent class and the first place in the starting class. As a result, it is expected that there will be significant perceptual fluctuations in the rankings during the bi-annual classification review.
We’re also revamping the way we’re bracketing regular races. From Day 1 to Day 3, we’ll be changing the order from individual, qualifying, and final races to qualifying, individual, and final races. This will allow teams to compete for a spot in the final race from Day 1, creating a tense battle for all three days.
With this change, the start list for Day 3 will be available after the end of Day 1. This is a very positive change for fans as it gives them more time to analyze the races.
We’re also revamping the way the Grand Prix is organized. Instead of a staggered system of qualifying for the Grand Prix, we’ll be awarding qualifying spots consistently in order of performance. This will allow Lim Chae-bin and Chung Jong-jin, two of the strongest representatives of the sport, to compete in up to eight big matches a year, including local tournaments.
In addition, the target race, which was previously held only for special classes, will be held once in the first half and once in the second half for all classes, which is expected to resolve some of the complaints from fans that there is nothing to eat at the rumored feast.
Next, we will replace the pre-race introductions of athletes with pre-produced videos. This will reduce the time burden on athletes to prepare for the race, which is expected to increase their immersion in the race.
Lastly, we will improve the judgment rules to prevent excessive overtaking, which is the practice of driving at different distances from each other. Instead of applying the offense of overtaking from the time of the spurt, it will be applied from the time of the retirement of the lead induction circle to improve race stability and customer confidence.
“We have introduced a new system to build a racing environment that provides exciting races for customers and allows athletes to focus more on racing. We will continue to strive to meet the expectations of our customers and reward their support.”