The local newspaper Aberdeen-Aberdeenshire reports that the rally proposal has already been brought before Aberdeen City Council for consideration. The discussion concerns securing a potential budget for the WRC project.
The city’s finance chief, Alex McLellan, has been negotiating with both Motorsport UK and the WRC promoter on the matter. The goal is to bring a WRC rally to Northeast Scotland as early as next season, with an initial aim of securing a three-year contract.
This would mark the first time since 1992 that WRC cars would be seen in Scotland. According to McLellan, a WRC event could generate a substantial £80 million (€100 million) economic impact for the region.
“We have been in discussion with Motorsport UK with the aim to securing a three-year deal for an event based around the city of Aberdeen,” McLellan stated.
Aberdeen has hosted the Grampian Forest Rally since 1989, so the city already has a strong rallying heritage. The idea is to organise the WRC event around the P&J Live Arena, located in the city centre.
P&J Live is an indoor arena with a capacity of 15,000 people. The proposed Scottish WRC rally’s fan zone, service park, media facilities, and race headquarters would all be based at the arena.
“Scotland has been identified as the preferred destination for the WRC. I know that they looked at other parts of the UK, but they really liked what they saw up here. It’s incredible that we can be in the mix for this. The city, shire and venue would all win,” P&J Live chief Rob Wicks enthuses.
However, not everyone is excited about the project.
“It is significant and very interesting that the rest of our country is trying to reduce its carbon footprint, while we want to bring motorsport into the city. It doesn’t sound right, and it feels like we are just chasing headlines,” says Aberdeen’s Conservative leader Richard Brooks in the local newspaper.
“I don’t understand where it came from, I don’t understand how they got to it but it just looks a bit chaotic again.”
