WRC agrees three-year extension with Croatia

The World Rally Championship (WRC) has signed a three-year extension with Rally Croatia.

Contract:

• Rally Croatia will host a European Rally Championship (ERC) race as part of this deal
• It will then return to the WRC schedule in 2026 and 2027

Context:

There was no place for Rally Croatia on the 2025 schedule, but this new agreement reaffirms the series’ commitment to the event. This also falls in line with WRC’s strategy for events as it opts for considered growth over expansion at all costs.

As part of that strategy, events are first introduced on the secondary ERC schedule before being promoted to the WRC calendar. This process was used for recently added events in Latvia and Poland, which stepped up to the premier championship this season.

Comment:

“When Croatia Rally joined the WRC in 2021, we knew it would become an instant classic, and it hasn’t disappointed in each of the last four editions,” said Simon Larkin, senior director of events for WRC Promoter.

“We are delighted to continue this adventure for the next three years across both our championships. It will definitely add a new sporting challenge to the ERC, and we think it will appeal to not just our regular ERC competitors, but likely some WRC teams as well.

“We’d like to thank the Croatian Government at all levels – led by Sports Minister Tonči Glavina – as well as Daniel Šaškin, the President of the Organising Committee, for their unwavering support of this project.”

Coming next:

The WRC is set for its largest season since 2008 next year, which gets underway with the Rallye Monte-Carlo from 23rd to 26th January.

Go deeper:

• ‘More events is not better’: Why the WRC calendar won’t be expanding for the sake of it
• Three drivers of the World Rally Championship’s new sustainability strategy