2026 WRC News & Rumours

[deephouse]

Didn’t they say or weren’t there rumours about an announcement regarding a new promoter on the eve of the Acropolis Rally or did they manage to drive the new promoter away already?

Don't believe them anything anymore. They are lying. There is no one and even that one who was, wasn't there anymore.

They said that new manufacturer from Europe will be revealed, not tuner, but manufacturer in a Rally Japan time. Rally Japan ended almost month ago and nothing. We kinda understand, because again delaying this affair with new promoter. But Rally Greece was coming and also WMSC meeting was in place. That shitface of Ben announced that they will finaly reveal promoter soon, max in three weeks... So that would be, what 2 weeks after Rally Greece, if my timeline is correct. If not he will be to blame. So what? What will happen? Will he be fired? Of course not. Now we got some weird news about that useless KIT soon after WMSC meeting which practicaly nobody wanted. So again, don't expect anything. They are lying, because there is nothing, sadly.

I'm sure there is no new promoter, its just trying to hype up by useless "business-PR" people in todays promoter/FIA.

If some of this "genius" people actually reading this forum, her is what you have to do:

Rally2's as topclass next 4 years while making a new direction how next generation WRC1's will be.

Give 30 mins round up tv-shows out for free to both streaming and regular TV-channels around the world.
You can't hide your product behind paywalls to get a fanbase.

Dont try to please todays team, several of them won't join anyway, and noone of them will go in the same direction.

Then, in 4 years time, you will have manufacturers joining the new regulation, because its actually a solid fanbase to show your brand for, good numbers from streaming/regular tv, the ROI will be aceptable for most interested manufacturers. Its like the hypercars in LeMans, it was quite dead some years ago, today its totalt different.


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Or we could just face the truth and accept that wrc will be without manufacturers. They will just build the cars and private teams will compete. As likes of Toksport, Printsport, PH-Sport, 2C competition, M-Sport... I mean it wouldn't be that bad. And Rally2 prove every single rally that can witstand better every conditions, tyres, drivers...

 

[Eli]

Don't believe them anything anymore. They are lying. There is no one and even that one who was, wasn't there anymore.

They said that new manufacturer from Europe will be revealed, not tuner, but manufacturer in a Rally Japan time. Rally Japan ended almost month ago and nothing. We kinda understand, because again delaying this affair with new promoter. But Rally Greece was coming and also WMSC meeting was in place. That shitface of Ben announced that they will finaly reveal promoter soon, max in three weeks... So that would be, what 2 weeks after Rally Greece, if my timeline is correct. If not he will be to blame. So what? What will happen? Will he be fired? Of course not. Now we got some weird news about that useless KIT soon after WMSC meeting which practicaly nobody wanted. So again, don't expect anything. They are lying, because there is nothing, sadly.



Or we could just face the truth and accept that wrc will be without manufacturers. They will just build the cars and private teams will compete. As likes of Toksport, Printsport, PH-Sport, 2C competition, M-Sport... I mean it wouldn't be that bad. And Rally2 prove every single rally that can witstand better every conditions, tyres, drivers...

Didn’t you see? Ben just overthrew the rule saying his time is limited for 12 years…only took him a year into his second term to do that…just wonderful…the WRC will die, it’s just a matter of when…

 

[PLuto]

Or we could just face the truth and accept that wrc will be without manufacturers. They will just build the cars and private teams will compete. As likes of Toksport, Printsport, PH-Sport, 2C competition, M-Sport... I mean it wouldn't be that bad. And Rally2 prove every single rally that can witstand better every conditions, tyres, drivers...

And who will pay this whole circus? If you will not have money from manufacturers, where they will find them?

 

[Steve Boyd]

If you will not have money from manufacturers, where they will find them?

Exactly! There is no Tobacco or Alcohol advertising money these days so unless the non-manufacturer teams can find rich rally fans that own billion dollar companies as sponsors they won't be able to pay for a full season of WRC events. The only hope for private teams might just be if they were allowed to score points on maybe 10 out of 14 events and maybe say two rounds have to be outside Europe (to make it a "world" championship). Even then the budget would still be much bigger than ERC.

Time to get Elon Musk & Jeff Bezos into rallying!

 

[PLuto]

Exactly! There is no Tobacco or Alcohol advertising money these days so unless the non-manufacturer teams can find rich rally fans that own billion dollar companies as sponsors they won't be able to pay for a full season of WRC events. The only hope for private teams might just be if they were allowed to score points on maybe 10 out of 14 events and maybe say two rounds have to be outside Europe (to make it a "world" championship). Even then the budget would still be much bigger than ERC.

Time to get Elon Musk & Jeff Bezos into rallying!

But I am not talking about competitors. But running the events and whole circus around (with FIA, promoter, live TV etc) is very expensive. Until now big part of this costs was paid by manufacturers money. If you will not have manufacturers willing to pay similar money, it will be very difficult for everybody...

 

[Ivlian]

But I am not talking about competitors. But running the events and whole circus around (with FIA, promoter, live TV etc) is very expensive. Until now big part of this costs was paid by manufacturers money. If you will not have manufacturers willing to pay similar money, it will be very difficult for everybody...

Thats easy...
2028 Calendar: Monte Carlo, Saudi Arabia1, Qatar, Emirates, Dubai1, Abu Dhabi, Saudi Arabia2, Dubai2....

Eaaaaasy

 

[Eli]

So…to sum up, apart from Toyota, ProjectRally1 & probably M-Sport, we still have no idea what will come from other so called manufacturers that told the FIA are interested, something like 10 did they claim? We have no calendar for next year and apart from this new kit, no other news related to promoter or whatever concerning the future of the WRC after the second meeting of the WMSC, nearing the end of June, lovely…we truly have everyone concerned to thank for that

 

[TypeR]

News will come in next couple of weeks..
New promotor is almost set, at least 5 manufacturers waiting and begging to take their money, eventhough rules don't exist and everything is crappy.

But they will be announced soon :spin:

 

[Ferranis]

That "9 Manufacturers / Tuners" were interested was such a BS. Maybe the regulation document was downloaded 9 times, but that's it ^^

 

[deephouse]

That "9 Manufacturers / Tuners" were interested was such a BS. Maybe the regulation document was downloaded 9 times, but that's it ^^

I figured that out when I play with chatGPT and it eventually gave me the same answer that they actually do that to "raise" the stakes. But it don't work here, obviously. I think it's the same with promoter.

 

[Steve Boyd]

But I am not talking about competitors. But running the events and whole circus around (with FIA, promoter, live TV etc) is very expensive. Until now big part of this costs was paid by manufacturers money. If you will not have manufacturers willing to pay similar money, it will be very difficult for everybody...

I agree, the money for the whole show has to come from somewhere. If there is a large sum from a championship sponsor (SpaceX WRC maybe) then promotion and TV can be covered and championship entry & organisers' event registration fees can be low. If there's no championship support then event organisers will have to pay substantial fees to be part of the championship and entry fees plus all of the other costs to compete will be out of reach to most. The championship promoter's job should be to maximise the income to the championship but I've seen so many "promoters" in rallying that only seem to be able to raise enough income to cover their own needs with nothing left for anything else that I sometimes wonder if they are worth having.

 

[Fast-Eddie]

Jon Armstong is the first of the WRC1 Drivers on the entry list for the 2026 Grampian Forest Rally.

This is a kind of candidate event for Rally Scotland 2026.

Romet Jürgenson is also on the entry and former ERC Champion Chris Ingram.

 

[TypeR]

Evans was supposed to drive also, but maybe changed it to that local Estonian one before Rally Estonia

 

[denkimi]

Exactly! There is no Tobacco or Alcohol advertising money these days so unless the non-manufacturer teams can find rich rally fans that own billion dollar companies as sponsors they won't be able to pay for a full season of WRC events. The only hope for private teams might just be if they were allowed to score points on maybe 10 out of 14 events and maybe say two rounds have to be outside Europe (to make it a "world" championship). Even then the budget would still be much bigger than ERC.

Time to get Elon Musk & Jeff Bezos into rallying!

Who is paying to be on F1 cars?

There are plenty of big businesses that could easily afford to pay a few millions, even tens of millions. But somehow they just aren't interested in the wrc.

 

[Mark]

Who is paying to be on F1 cars?

There are plenty of big businesses that could easily afford to pay a few millions, even tens of millions. But somehow they just aren't interested in the wrc.

Comes back to coverage in the end. Sure they can make some money by charging £125 for rally.tv but that comes at the expense of the team and the sport. If instead on Sunday afternoon on the likes of Channel 4 they had a roundup of the rally and live coverage of the powe stage they would probably make less overall but the sport will have millions more viewers.

 

[Doon]

I'm repeating myself a bit here, but here goes......

Rallying is a very niche sport. Always will be. OK, there have been some flashes of popularity, but only when the market for particular types of road car was strong. The kinds of cars associated with rallying not are not desirable to many people, and WRC is not salubrious. It doesn't have the glamour of F1, it's not a fashionable sport follow, and it doesn't suit the way modern media is consumed.

I think i needs to just cease to exist for a while and then it may be able to rise from the ashes once a few things in the world. i.e. the car manufacturing industry starts making interesting cars which suit rallying, and someone who has a genuine interest in the sport can promote it. To caveat the last statement, was anyone actually promoting the sport in the mid 80s, mid-late 90s when it was popular, or was that just driven by the manufacturers?

 

[Mark]

I think i needs to just cease to exist for a while and then it may be able to rise from the ashes once a few things in the world. i.e. the car manufacturing industry starts making interesting cars which suit rallying, and someone who has a genuine interest in the sport can promote it. To caveat the last statement, was anyone actually promoting the sport in the mid 80s, mid-late 90s when it was popular, or was that just driven by the manufacturers?

I would say it had TV coverage but I suspect what I am remembering is Top Gear Rally Report which would have been the RAC Rally and likely nothing else for the rest of the year.

 

[WRCStan]

There was no championship promoter and there were no commercial/TV rights in the 80s. Local broadcasters would typically film and broadcast their home rallies and not the championship. Some rallies got no coverage.

1993ish the FIA's Bernie Ecclestone creates the commercial rights and sells them to Bernie Ecclestone. That didn't look good so he was forced to sell them, Dave Richards took them on. This led to the World Rally Car era, probably when we can remember all season rounds beginning to be broadcast and in consistent format.

Also for 1993, manufacturers had to register for the championship which lasts to this day.

2009ish, after most of the manufs dropped out, the commercial rights holder became a promoter, and had a lot more responsibilities in making things happen, not just scraping money off it.

the car manufacturing industry starts making interesting cars which suit rallying

It's cute that you retain hope but it not going to be happening. Phones are never going to have a rotary dial on them again either.

 

[Doon]

There was no championship promoter and there were no commercial/TV rights in the 80s. Local broadcasters would typically film and broadcast their home rallies and not the championship. Some rallies got no coverage.

1993ish the FIA's Bernie Ecclestone creates the commercial rights and sells them to Bernie Ecclestone. That didn't look good so he was forced to sell them, Dave Richards took them on. This led to the World Rally Car era, probably when we can remember all season rounds beginning to be broadcast and in consistent format.

Also for 1993, manufacturers had to register for the championship which lasts to this day.

2009ish, after most of the manufs dropped out, the commercial rights holder became a promoter, and had a lot more responsibilities in making things happen, not just scraping money off it.


It's cute that you retain hope but it not going to be happening. Phones are never going to have a rotary dial on them again either.

Well, rallying as we know will just die out. What’s the point for a manufacturer if not to promote their cars and brand? Might as well give a popular YouTube influencer a few thousand euros to promote your product. I genuinely think the sun is setting on the WRC.

 

[WRCStan]

Well, rallying as we know will just die out. What’s the point for a manufacturer if not to promote their cars and brand?

They can promote their brand, it's just not useful for promoting their cars, unless it's a low-volume rally car builder. The mass production car manufacturers are told they need to make cars that deter high speeds through annoyances, automatically dial emergency services in an accident, must have lane guidance, can only have so many ICE cars.... it's not optional stuff.

Rallying will survive, there's too many people that enjoy doing it. But the cars need to revolve around them and be purpose built though - and that's where the new cars are headed and why the manufacturer's championship is being replaced by a constructor's championship. Just another milestone.