The organisers of the World Rally Championship would really like so as to add one other tarmac round to the 2026 calendar to further balance the gap between tarmac and gravel rallies.
Now that championship organisers have released an expanded 14-round calendar for next season, the WRC is already looking towards 2026, with demand to be included within the calendar continuing to grow.
Several countries have expressed interest in putting them on the bill for 2026. The U.S. is widely expected to make its long-awaited comeback with a gravel event from Chattanooga, Tennessee.
While expansion to the US is a key goal, the championship also intends to extend the variety of asphalt events. Five is the intended goal for a possible 14-round season.
The four-race tarmac calendar will proceed next season, with Monte Carlo, the Central Europe Rally and Japan all retaining their places on the schedule, while the Canary Islands have been promoted from the European Rally Championship, replacing Croatia, which can be bidding to return in 2026.
Ireland is one other candidate to grasp the WRC's dream of asphalt, with the country's three-year bid to bring the WRC back to the island having fallen on deaf ears after failing to secure €15 million in funding from the Irish government for 2025.
Motorsport Ireland estimated the rally would generate €300 million for the local economy because the proposed three-year deal would see it staged in three alternating locations – Waterford, Kerry and Limerick.
Since April, when it was confirmed that funding wouldn’t be provided for 2025, Motorsport Ireland has confirmed that talks between the Government and the WRC Promoter are continuing and the organisation stays hopeful that the WRC will happen in Ireland in 2026.
Dani Sordo (ESP) Citroen C4 WRC on stage 13.
Photo: Sutton Images
“We are working with Motorsport Ireland and in particular their CEO Aiden Harper who is doing a fantastic job,” WRC event director Simon Larkin told Motorsport.com when asked about Ireland’s bid.
“He is busy with today and night and we’re working with them as hard as we will to grasp their ambitions.
“I think the championship would love to go to Ireland and we're looking to add another asphalt event to balance that out with another one. Ireland is a fantastic candidate for that.”
Larkin added: “It is very likely that this is the case.” [an extra asphalt round] will probably be inside the present round of 14 [schedule].”
Last month, Larkin travelled to Ireland where he met with members of the Irish government to debate the country’s plan for the WRC.
“We met with the main part of the sports department in the sports ministry and gave a good presentation, we will take care of it and give another presentation,” he said.
“We are conducting a study of the economic impact of three events in Poland, Latvia and Central Europe.
“These are numbers that we hope will be commendable. We accept government funding for many of these events and we want to prove that this is not wasted money, and that this money comes back because the number of international visitors who attend these events brings new money to the region and the host city, and that pays for itself.”
