Everything you need to know about the WRC's schedule for 2026 and beyond
Photography by Red Bull, Toyota, Hyundai, M-Sport & Girardo & Co. Archive
Words by Luke Barry
With the revelation of the 2026 World Rally Championship calendar last week, we know where we’re going in the short term.
But why are we going there? What still needs to be resolved? And what is the future direction of world rallying’s annual schedule?
Here are the answers to some key questions about the WRC calendar.
Since it returned to the WRC calendar as an asphalt event based in Toyota City back in 2022, Rally Japan has run in November.
But for 2026 the event has moved forward to the final weekend in May, running as round seven in a 14-round schedule. Why?
“That sort of May, June date is probably actually a more ideal place for Japan,” said WRC event director, Simon Larkin. “It serves a few purposes. One is it does provide a breakup of the, let’s call them the tougher gravel events, with a Tarmac event.
Next year's Rally Japan will not feature its characteristic backdrop of fall colors
“You know Elfyn [Evans] hasn’t had the easiest run of events, so there are sporting reasons for it as well. It also means that we can have better timelines for our sea freight movement for all of us, and it puts Japan in an area of the calendar where we can hopefully add another event in that region without interfering with sea freight schedules in 2027 or beyond.”
The WRC has aspirations to hold more than one event in the Asia-Pacific region, and relocating Japan means any new event “can be paired a little bit better, because there’s quite a long slot, as you can see now, from May in Japan to South America in August. So there’s room for an additional event there”.
Larkin wouldn’t name which country, but said an announcement should be due in “the next couple of months” about 2027.
“It’s exciting,” he said. “I mean in general, as ever, as for the last few years, we have way more exciting opportunities than we have slots in the calendar. And that makes my job easy. People are beating down the door. It’s fantastic.”
But what are these countries?
New Zealand's sweeping gravel roads last played host to WRC in 2022
“New Zealand wants to come back,” said Larkin. “We’re in discussions with government in Australia, and Indonesia. They’re the main ones in that region at the moment, all of which are incredibly viable for 2027.
“Obviously, the US is something that we’ve talked about. There are at least two other countries in Europe who want to either join or rejoin. There are a couple of events already in the European Championship who are seeing what we’ve done with Poland, with Latvia, with the Canary Islands for the future as well.
“And that’s something that we’ve always said we wanted to foster. You know, in each year on the calendar, it is our intention to try to have a slot for an ERC event to come up. And that’s a strategy that we’re continuing to pursue.”
More on Europe later, but first let’s explore the Indonesian option. It hasn’t featured on the WRC calendar since 1997 but is known to be actively pursuing a return.
Colin McRae led after opening day's stages in tropical Indonesia, 1997
“We had meetings with the sports ministry, a number of other ministries were there – their ambition is strong,” Larkin confirmed. “It’s exciting actually. They’ve been a strong supporter of the Asia-Pacific championship, which is a championship that is not what it used to be. And it’s the same as what we want to do with Rally Saudi Arabia of boosting the Middle East championship by having an extra event in Asia-Pacific. If we can have two events there like we do in South America, we think it can really help the regional championship.”
There have also been meetings with China just a couple of weeks ago, but it’s not understood to be a massive priority for the time being.
Rally Argentina is considered one of the classic events in WRC history, hosting 36 editions from as early as 1980.
But it has not been a part of the WRC since 2019, where it formed a South American double-header along with Rally Chile.
Argentina's fan-filled mountains haven't been seen in the WRC since 2019
Argentina is known to be interested in a return, and again discussions are ongoing between it and WRC Promoter. However, the WRC is not interested in having more than two South American events, which it currently does with Paraguay and Chile.
Given Paraguay has what Larkin called a “long-term contract”, beyond 2026 it would be either Argentina or Chile – not both.
“Yeah, I guess so,” Larkin said. “I think two is probably the maximum in South America.”
Arguably the most intriguing part of last week’s 2026 calendar announcement was the ambiguity over Italy’s inclusion.
Next year’s Italian round was confirmed to take place in October instead of June, but the actual event the WRC will visit was not specified.
Italy's round of WRC is set to switch to Rome - potentially as soon as next year
Larkin argued Italy is “published as a gravel event” even though the WRC’s press release did not indicate this, but that does suggest there is an intention for Sardinia to remain Italy’s WRC round as it has since 2004, for next season at least.
But it’s no secret that the organizer of Rally di Roma wants to upgrade it from the ERC (where it currently sits) to the WRC, and WRC Promoter wants that too.
At some point then it seems that Rome will become Italy’s WRC host – the question is whether that’s for 2026 or later.
Larkin explained: “There is an ambition to move the event to Rome. There’s no fixed… you know, we’ve signed a multi-year deal with ACI [Italian ASN]. There’s no fixed prescription as to when it has to move.
“We moved it to that time [October] because it serves as a suitable slot for either location, whether that’s for next year or the year after, or the year after that. We just wanted to make that move to have that slot available, if you like.”
Asked directly if Italy 2026 will be a gravel round in Sardinia, Larkin replied: “It is on the calendar as a gravel event for next year. It would require a proposal and approval for it to move.”
The WRC is increasing its global footprint with rallies added in Africa, Asia and the Middle East this decade.
But despite this growth, Europe will continue to form the core of the WRC calendar – for a couple of reasons.
Traditional European events still have a WRC future
“I can always see a likelihood where at least half the events are in Europe, yes,” Larkin said. “And that’s from a cost and logistics [perspective] but also going where great demand is for rallying. [Europe] is the home of rallying more so than anything.”
In 2026, nine of the 14 events are European, although Central European Rally did lose its place.
Larkin said WRC Promoter is continuing discussion with ADAC, the German ASN, as well as both Motorsport UK and Motorsport Ireland which are both keen to hold an event in 2027 – even if there will only be room for one.
There was a strong Motorsport UK presence in the service park at Rally Finland last week (including CEO Hugh Chambers), with key officials seen having a meeting with M-Sport’s Malcolm Wilson and Richard Millener.
Words:Luke Barry
Tags: WRC, WRC 2026, WRC 2026 calendar, WRC calendar
Publish Date August 6, 2025 DirtFish 
https://dirtfish-editorial.s3-accelerate.amazonaws.com/2025/08/IHF1i6bh-207_WRC_FIN_25-780x520.jpg August 6, 2025
Up Next
