--- title: "WRC Says It Delayed US Rally to ‘Get It Right the First Time’" date: "2025-08-01" modified: "2025-08-01" authors: - name: "Adam Ismail" job_title: "Senior Editor" link: "https://www.thedrive.com/authors/adam-ismail" url: "https://www.thedrive.com/news/wrc-says-it-delayed-us-rally-to-get-it-right-the-first-time" categories: - "News" - "Racing" --- # WRC Says It Delayed US Rally to ‘Get It Right the First Time’ ![Oliver Solberg races at the World Rally Championship in Tartu, Estonia on July 2025. // WRC Promoter GmbH / Red Bull Content Pool // SI202507200247 // Usage for editorial use only //]() *\WRC Promoter GmbH/Red Bull Content Pool\* The World Rally Championship published its 2026 schedule yesterday, with a disappointing, albeit unsurprising omission: a U.S. round was nowhere to be found. Fans were hoping to welcome the country's first rally in nearly 40 years on the upcoming calendar, but despite four test and training functions of various sizes [dating back to 2023](), including a [demonstration event]() and [candidate rally](), the WRC and its partners haven't quite been able to get a Tennessee event over the line yet. Don't take that to mean that organizers have given up, though, as the sport's commercial body told *The Drive* that work is pressing on with a 2027 target. "We have always had the objective for an important market like the USA that we have to 'get it right the first time,'" a WRC Promoter spokesperson said in a statement. "With much work needing to be done to build the event from the ground up, we are being necessarily cautious towards the debut year. "A planned Candidate Event in September will provide the best possible 'proof of concept' as well as a training opportunity for all of the U.S. rallying organisational community to learn about the standards of a modern WRC event, and this will provide an ideal evaluation platform. This is something we’re working on with the FIA, ACCUS and ARA hand-in-hand," the statement continued. The spokesperson added that more training events, beyond the September candidate rally, are planned at American Rally Championship events in the region throughout the second half of 2025. ![Markku Alen and co driver navigator Ilkka Kivimaki of Finland driving the #2 Martini Lancia Delta Integrale duringthe FIA World Rally Championship 44th Lombard RAC Rally on 24th November 1988 in Wykeham, Great Britain. (Photo by Pascal Rondeau/Getty Images)]() *The last time the WRC held an official event in the U.S., they were running cars like this. *Pascal Rondeau/Getty Images** The road to the first U.S. WRC round since the 1988 Olympus Rally in Washington has been a long one, but it was always going to be. Planning rallies is significantly more complicated than taking over a racetrack and involves multiple organizations acting in symmetry. The statement above names some of them—the FIA and its U.S. liaison, the ACCUS, plus the ARA, which obviously knows the legal and logistical hurdles of rallying in this country the best. But there's also the local government, and representatives from the city of Chattanooga's tourism board [actually traveled to Finland]() as COVID restrictions were winding down to better understand how this symphony of motorsports and nature should work when it's firing on all cylinders. Speaking of Finland, the WRC happens to be there this weekend, and the subject of a U.S. rally was covered during a media roundtable. Emilia Abel, the road sport director of the FIA, said that all parties agreed that the event would benefit from another year of preparation, and emphasized the importance that the local organizers are following "exactly the same requirements as the FIA," per *[Autosport]()*. That said, Abel was firm in predicting that 2027 would indeed be the year. "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." Abel added that there has been "no official application yet" for the September test, but it is nevertheless in planners' sights. *Got tips? Send ’em to tips@thedrive.com*[]()[]()[]() ## Author Adam is a Senior Editor at The Drive, concentrating on curating and developing the site's slate of daily journalism, from initial pitch to final copy edit. When he's not at his desk researching leads and working with writers, he's testing vehicles or reviewing racing games, new and old. He joined The Drive in 2023, following seven years of covering consumer technology and cars. A car lover and gamer since his earliest memories, Adam came to know the automotive world through video games. First it was Daytona USA, Sega Rally, and Ridge Racer; then came Need For Speed, which inspired an encyclopedic knowledge of '90s supercars, and, of course, Gran Turismo. If not for them, he'd assuredly be doing something else right now. Adam is based in the suburbs outside Philly, where there are ample roads for his hot hatch to stretch its legs. In his car, he's probably listening to indie rock, drum and bass, or Yankees baseball. ### Author social links [Bluesky]() [Instagram]() [LinkedIn]()