In early June, during the Rally Sardinia, the WRC Promoter announced a landmark agreement with Saudi Arabia to host a round of the championship. The deal is massive, spanning an unprecedented ten years.
Never before has the promoter committed to such a long-term agreement with a rally organiser. The deal is also highly lucrative, valued at tens of millions of euros.
The inclusion of Saudi Arabia has sparked outrage among some fans and even within the sport itself. The country’s human rights record has been a point of contention, and in recent years, Saudi Arabia has been accused of sportswashing to improve its global image.
Simon Larkin, the WRC Promoter’s event director, defended Saudi Arabia’s involvement in an interview with BlackBook Motorsport.
“I think we’re going to create something really special there. Inevitably, people will say we’re just going there for the money. The fact is I’ve spent a lot of time out there on the roads and looking at the environment that we’re going to be able to compete in,” Larkin said.
The first-ever Saudi Arabian WRC round is scheduled for November 2025, serving as the season finale.
“I know we’re going to create three very different rallies in one in Saudi Arabia. We’re going to have a day of some of the most amazing mountain roads I’ve ever seen – whoever made the roads to service the high-tension power lines is an unrecognised rally driver,” Larkin explained.
“Then we’ll do a day just outside Jeddah, there’s an area of thousands of square kilometres of black volcanic rock. And then we’ll do a day of pretend dune racing – we’ll be on formed roads but, to the untrained eye, it will look like we’re doing desert racing.”
Larkin also mentioned that the Rally Saudi Arabia is set to feature a night stage.
“Just like we do in Sweden – it’s the cars with their additional lights on and we’ll be able to do that with a desert landscape. I think we’ll be able to show off the different characters of Saudi Arabia,” Larkin added.
