The World Rally Championship is looking to expand its calendar and host events in new countries for the series.
Since its inauguration in 1973, the WRC has held events in over 30 countries across all corners and continents of the world.
For the 2025 season, the calendar will feature 14 rallies, with a return to Las Palmas in Spain, and new events in Paraguay and a mega 10-year deal in Saudi Arabia replacing Estonia, Latvia and Poland.
The WRC organisers are aiming to expand into the United States for the first time since 1988, and there are a whole host of other venues that are on their radar.
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Simon Larkin is hoping to get Rally Ireland back on the WRC calendar as well as events in Asia
One event that the WRC is hoping to get back on the calendar is Rally Ireland, which last hosted an event in 2009.
It had been anticipated to return for 2025, but funding issues prevented the event from being on the calendar for next year.
However, negotiations have continued, and WRC event director Simon Larkin is hopeful the championship can return to Rally Ireland, and also revealed a few other venues he is hoping to get on the calendar.
Speaking with BlackBook Motorsport about Ireland, he said: “I’m hoping it’s going to happen. I was in Killarney ten days ago meeting with the government. They’re pretty confident that we’ll be able to tick that box.
“We’re doing a three-event economic impact study, which we did in Poland [and] Latvia, and we’ll do it [at the] Central Europe rally in October. Already, the numbers that have come from Poland and Latvia, in terms of the [percentage of] international visitors and their impact have surprised even me.
“I’m very confident we’ll get there. The amount of money that we’re looking for [from Ireland], we can more than justify through our economic impact.”
When asked what other countries and regions he is hoping to move the WRC to, he replied: “Asia, 100 per cent. China, I’ll go to Indonesia later this year, Vietnam – we need another event in Asia.
“It also makes sense just from a logistics [point of view], we send one set of kit over there and it can do two events. Australia and New Zealand remain interesting for us, and they’re probably going to be in our future. I consider them in Asia Pacific, so let’s just say it’s that area.”
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WRC’s promoters are looking at a possible sale of the business
The speculation around new events comes after the rumours that WRC Promoter GmbH’s owners are looking at potentially selling the business.
They are hoping to strike a deal for the value of around ‘£426m’ as they look to expand the championship’s global audience.
The WRC is looking particularly at the US market and wants to emulate the success of Liberty Media with Formula 1.
Through the popular Netflix series Drive to Survive and with three races in Miami, Texas and Las Vegas on the calendar, F1’s owners have skyrocketed the sport’s interest in the US.