Several countries are currently interested in hosting a World Rally Championship event. It is already confirmed that next year the WRC will return to the United States after a long absence, with a round planned to be held in the state of Tennessee.
The championship’s event director, Simon Larkin, has already confirmed that the WRC has a valid multi-year agreement in place with the USA.
But there are other candidates in the mix as well. There has been public discussion about Indonesia making a return to the WRC calendar, as well as Britain rejoining the championship. Future WRC rounds have been considered in Scotland and Ireland. However, the year 2026 will come too soon for these events to be realised.
“For ’26? Probably not. At the moment, no. We have enough events contracted. We’re working with all of them for 2027, for sure,” Larkin responded when asked about potential new events.
“You know, until everything is finalised, we still have a few contracts left to complete. That’s our priority at the moment,” Larkin continued.
“But we have to be realistic — it’s the end of April now, and the calendar has to be finalised by July. So, there would have to be something pretty groundbreaking from either of those,” Larkin pointed out.
Indonesia is one of the most intriguing candidates. The country has previously hosted a WRC round twice. The rally, held in 1996 and 1997, was won on both occasions by Carlos Sainz. A WRC event was also scheduled to take place in Indonesia in 1999, but it had to be cancelled due to the country’s unstable political situation at the time.
Larkin cannot directly promise that Indonesia will return to the WRC calendar as early as 2027.
“Regarding Indonesia — 2026 was always going to be a stretch. Peter (Thul) and I were there in January,” Larkin said.
“They’re ambitious, but they’re also calm and measured, with a clear strategy for implementation. Just because there’s an option doesn’t mean it’s actually a viable one. We want to do things carefully — and we’ve taken the same approach with the US over time,” Larkin continued.
The process of getting new events onto the calendar has been lengthy — and in the opinion of many, far too lengthy.
“A fair criticism is that it’s taken too long. That’s fine — we can take that,” Larkin said.
“But as we’ve said, we’re changing our business model for the US. We’re going to invest to make it happen. Because whether it’s the US, Indonesia, Ireland, or Scotland — we want to ensure there’s an event worth going to. Not just ticking a box because it’s a particular country,” Larkin explained.
Larkin emphasises that any newcomer must be exemplary in every respect in order to be included in the World Rally Championship.
“We need sustainable events — ones that can grow, that have the necessary resourcing and budgets. That’s also why we invested heavily in the three-event economic study — to justify the level of funding required for a modern WRC event.”
