Why the FIA is confident WRC will head to USA in 2027 after 2026 calendar miss

The FIA is confident the World Rally Championship is on track to host a round in the USA in 2027 following its omission from the 2026 schedule.

The WRC has long held an ambition to return to the USA for the first time since the 1988 Olympus Rally, with the project a key part of its plan to grow the category.

Last year, the championship announced it had developed a “clear roadmap” to achieving a USA event in 2026 that included direct investment and involvement in event promotion from WRC Promoter.

In April, the WRC Promoter confirmed that a multi-year deal was in place and the event was included on a proposed 2026 calendar. The USA joining the schedule was however subject to approval from the FIA and USA’s national federation ACCUS.

The FIA has today confirmed that a mutual decision was made between the governing body, the WRC Promoter and ACCUS to delay the USA’s appearance on the WRC calendar until 2027 at the earliest.

“The FIA is working hard together with the promoter and ACCUS to bring Rally USA to the WRC calendar. However, it has been a mutual decision that it will require another year to get prepared,” said FIA’s Road Sport Director Emilia Abel in a media roundtable at Rally Finland.

“We’re still working on delivering the candidate event so the discussion is certainly ongoing. However, it could have also meant that the calendar would have been a 15-event calendar.

“So it has been decided for now that we still work together with the organisers and the ASN and the promoter to make sure of that once we are entering the new continent.

“As we all know, rallying is a slightly different discipline and perceived slightly different [in the USA] than in Europe.

“We have decided that we want to be 100% confident that they are following exactly the same requirements as the FIA, and just need another year to be prepared and trained for the event, just purely from the organisational point of view.”

When asked if the FIA was confident the USA would appear on the WRC calendar in 2027, Abel added: “Yes, confident, 100%. We see some very good progress already over the last month. We see a dedicated team, so it’s certainly on a good path.”

Details regarding the candidate event for Rally USA are yet to be defined, although it has been potentially earmarked for September.

“It [the candidate event] is in progress. There is no official application yet, but it is in progress, and it’s considered to be at the moment at the end of September, but there is no official application. So until the official application is there, I can’t say that it is 100% happening,” said Abel, referring to the candidate event that is needed before a rally formally joins the WRC calendar.

Securing insurance to host a WRC round in the USA had been one of the initial hurdles in bringing rallying’s top tier to North America, but the FIA has confirmed that this is not a concern moving forward.

“Yes, it has indeed been a topic as well, but I believe that the organiser had found the solution for that,” said Abel.