Both the United States and Scotland have been confirmed on an expanded 15-round World Rally Championship calendar for 2027.
Announced on Thursday, next year’s schedule starts with Monte Carlo, running from January 21-24. The following four events in Sweden, Kenya, Croatia and the Canary Islands remain in the same position as this year.
What’s understood to be a single-season absence for Portugal means Japan moves forward to round six, followed by Greece. Italy’s Rome-based asphalt counter slots in at round eight before an all-gravel, seven-round second half.
Estonia and Finland are back-to-back before the WRC’s return to America for the first time in 39 years for Rally US. Britain is also back one round later with Rally Scotland before the South American double-header in Paraguay and Chile. Rally Saudi Arabia closes out the year, running between November 25-28.
FIA president Mohammed Ben Sulayem said the expanded calendar – the largest since the 15-round schedule in 2008 – was a demonstration of the growing strength of the series.
Next year's WRC calendar will be the longest since 2008
He said: “The 2027 FIA World Rally Championship calendar reflects the strong momentum behind the WRC, with new events in the United Kingdom and Italy strengthening the Championship in countries with a proud rallying heritage, while the United States gives us an exciting opportunity to grow in a country where interest in rallying continues to rise.
“With the introduction of the WRC27 technical regulations, a new promoter thanks to the deal of the century that will bring long-term investment and ambition to the championship, and a strong global calendar, the future of rallying is extremely bright.”
CEO of that recently installed new promoter Éric Boullier echoed those sentiments, adding: “2027 represents the beginning of an exciting new chapter for the World Rally Championship, and this calendar reflects our ambition to build a stronger, more accessible and truly global championship.
“Returning to the United States and United Kingdom, alongside bringing the WRC to an iconic destination such as Rome, creates tremendous opportunities for our manufacturers, commercial partners and fans.
“Combined with the introduction of new technical regulations, we have a unique opportunity to shape the future of the WRC, attract new investment and bring the excitement of rallying to more people around the world.”
Establishing the calendar is only part of the job, with WRC Promoter COO Julien Vial pointing out: “Our vision is to build a championship that combines the unique sporting challenges of rallying with world-class events capable of engaging audiences around the globe.
“This calendar strikes that balance, bringing together some of the sport’s most celebrated rallies with exciting new destinations. Working closely with our organisers and partners, we want to continue raising the standard of our events and delivering an exceptional experience for fans, competitors and stakeholders.”
Asked about the timing of the calendar expansion, Vial told DirtFish: “Sometimes we need to take [the] decision. But with the new [technical] regulation, with the cost brought back with something more accessible, we took the decision that it’s a good time to take it.”
FIA road sport director Emilia Abel added: “It’s also not only expanding the calendar just for the sake of expanding, but just to have the best balance in the championship and serve the best interest from the perspective of all the stakeholders.”
Back to America
The US last welcomed the WRC 39 years ago in 1988
The WRC’s return to America is something which has been on the cards for the last five years, with manufacturers pushing increasingly hard to be back in one of the world’s key automotive markets. August next year will be all about Rally US, with Finland and Scotland four weeks either side of the series’ first Stateside visit in almost four decades.
Vial explained: “First, as you have seen during the season, FIA and promoter are running a candidate event [in America]. That was pretty, pretty good. And, as you know, USA is a big market for motorsport, but also for automotive. It’s, for us, mandatory to come in this region and we are sure we can develop the rally in the future in this area and we have a strong support from the FIA and from the ASN.
“We are working closely with the [Rally US] promoters to develop a big event – USA has the ability to organize. So, I think it’s pretty good news now for the WRC to come back in US and to have an event in August.
FIA deputy president Malcolm Wilson added: “I think everybody knows that USA has been on the radar for a number of years. And of course, it’s never finally got over the line. But, from my point of working with a new promoter, right from the outset, one of the important aspects was to make sure to find a way to get an event in the US. In fairness to Éric and Julien and the team, they’ve done a big job, a big effort to actually make it happen.
“As you can imagine, it’s probably been one of the influencing factors from Ford coming back. So, well done to the new promoter team for putting that commitment in and making sure we get the event on the calendar.”
Estonia and Finland one week apart
Estonia will run just one week before Finland
For the first time since 2008, the WRC will run on consecutive weekends with Rally Estonia and Rally Finland separated by just three days.
Vial explained: “When we share this calendar, with all options, with the teams, they ask us to try to find a solution where – when you have two weeks [between events] everyone will go back to the facility and go and start again to fly for the next one. So, we have decided with Estonia and Finland to take the challenge to organize these two events in two weeks.
“For the storytelling, for all the rally fans, all the teams will join Finland [directly] after Estonia. I think it’s something new and very interesting to test. And for the promotion, it could be something interesting. If it works, maybe we can do that again in another country next in 2028.”
The Kenya question
Finding commercial agreement with Kenya was another key topic
Finding commercial agreement with Kenya was one of the key drivers in delivering next year’s calendar.
Questioned on the finer details of the agreement, Abel said: “I would say that Kenya is part of the calendar very much due to a big common effort from all sides, from FIA, from promoter and the local ASN. How exactly the financial problem was faced, I believe these details are not important. I think [what’s] important is that it was a common effort from all sides and which brought the result that Kenya is back in the calendar in 2027.”
Kenyan president William Ruto stated earlier this year that funding for the event would move from pubic to the private sector.
Talking about the potential for that happening, Abel added: “This is falling under the, let’s say, promoter or the organizing contract of the event. Kenyan government is still backing up the whole project, for sure. But what are the exact details of the financial model behind it, that I believe that’s not up to us to comment.”
All-gravel second half
The entire second half of the season was on gravel in 2026, and it'll be the same in 2027
One of the requests from recently crowned world champion Elfyn Evans was to install an asphalt rally in the middle of a succession of gravel events across the second half of the year, to avoid the championship leader being consistently punished.
The promoter is looking to introduce that, but not in time for next season.
Vial said: “As you understand, with the confirmation of our deal [to take over as promoter] in August, we don’t have too much flexibility with this 2027 calendar. But it’s a very good point. We are working, but you know, each country has different constraints, so it’s not easy also to find a slot for everyone. But if we can, for sure, maybe to add some Tarmac event on the end of the season could be interesting to try to balance this gravel effect.
“It was not possible for 2027. I don’t know if it would be possible for 2028, but from a long-term perspective, we are thinking about that.”
Wilson added: “We’ve never had as excitinga finish to a championship. So I don’t think there’s much too wrong with the calendar.”
WRC 2027 calendar
January 21-24: Rallye Monte Carlo
February 18-21: Rally Sweden
March 18-21: Safari Rally Kenya
April 8-11: Croatia Rally
May 6-9: Rally Islas Canarias
June 3-6: Rally Japan
June 24-27: Acropolis Rally Greece
July 8-11: Rally Italy
July 22-25: Rally Estonia
July 29-August 1: Rally Finland
August 26-29: Rally US
September 30-October 3: Rally Scotland
October 21-24: Rally del Paraguay
November 4-7: Rally Chile
November 25-28: Rally Saudi Arabia
