The WRC Promoter event director, Simon Larkin, says that FIA is very confident and ambitious that Middle East will be included to next year's WRC calendar as he believes that it is a very critical market for competitors.
The calendar of World Rally Championship is mainly based on European rallies while the Asian market joined WRC two years ago with Rally Japan. In addition to that, a country from Oceania is absent from the calendar since 2022 and Africa returned with Safari Rally Kenya in 2021. In addition to that, the sport visits USA at least two times a year as Chile, Mexico and Argentina have provided spectacular fights between the crews. On the other hand, 2011 was the last year where WRC hosted a round in Middle East with Jordan having been the organizing country. Although it is very early in the season, FIA and WRC Promoter are already examining their options for 2025 and it is speculated that Middle East and Ireland will join WRC next year. Monte Carlo, Sweden, Kenya, Finland, Greece, CER and Japan will for sure continue hosting a WRC event while Chile and Argentina are very close to reach a multi-year agreement with the Federation.
"We remain absolutely confident that in 2025 there will be a Middle East round of the WRC", Larkin said.
"We're also very confident because we will be ambitious that when we have a WRC event in the region, we think it can also revitalise the Middle East Rally Championship, and we will work very tirelessly to make that happen.
"We think it's a really critical market for competitors.
"We all remember quite a few years ago we had so many Middle Eastern competitors competing here at every level, and we want to bring that back and having a foundation event there we know is a critical thing there."
Source: Motorsport.com
Photo Credits: Red Bull Content Pool
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