World Rally Championship (WRC) followers in the US must journey overseas to see a race in individual, however that would change within the coming years. Organizers are laying the foundations for the primary American WRC occasion in over 30 years, and it would happen in 2026.
The final WRC spherical held on our shores was the Olympus Rally, which happened in Washington from the 1986 to the 1988 season. It is nonetheless held at this time, but it surely’s a nationwide rally (WRC is a global sequence), and nothing suggests it’ll get added to the 2026 calendar. As a substitute, the organizers are wanting east to the gravel roads of southeastern Tennessee; WRC’s subsequent American spherical may happen close to Chattanooga.
Often known as Rally USA, and backed by the American Rally Affiliation (ARA) in addition to Tennessee officers, the occasion has its sights set on the 2026 calendar. It held an illustration race in September 2023, in response to Motorsport, and it’ll maintain one other race in June 2024 that can extra intently comply with the structure of a WRC spherical. The upcoming race might be a check run to assist determine whether or not Tennessee can host WRC.
“It’s not a certainty at the moment, but the event in June will be a stepping stone toward that [candidate event] and then the goal will be to be observed and be able to be on the calendar in 2026 or 2027; that’s how we’re looking at it,” rally supervisor Stuart Wooden informed Motorsport.
Rally USA has already began searching for volunteers to assist on the race, which can happen June 14-16. Functions are closed, which suggests the organizers have already discovered the assistance that they want, however a devoted web page on the Rally USA web site notes that volunteers will “ensure the smooth functioning of the event, from assisting spectators to marshaling stages and maintaining the track.”
Whereas WRC’s 2025 calendar hasn’t been set but, the chances of seeing an American spherical on it are nonexistent.
“The USA will not be ready for 2025, 100%. When we go to the United States, we want to do more than just go there and do a rally. We want to have an event that’s going to have an impact, because it’s a market that is important, but we don’t just want to go there and make up the numbers. We want to make sure it’s an event that has sufficient funding but also sufficient time to test. We already have great support from both the state and regional government in our potential home there. It’s just a few funding pieces that need to go into place there,” WRC occasion director Simon Larkin defined in an interview with Motorsport. He added that insurance-related hurdles nonetheless have not been cleared.
After largely snubbing the American marketplace for years, the organizers of main worldwide racing sequence more and more see us as untapped potential. System One’s first race on the Circuit of the Americas in Austin, Texas, happened in 2012. Las Vegas held a System One Grand Prix in 2023 after a decades-long hiatus, and a current report means that the sequence is organizing a highway race in Chicago.