The FIA World Rally Championship (WRC) has sealed a historic deal with Saudi Arabia, ensuring the Kingdom’s spot on the WRC calendar for the next decade, beginning in 2025.
Unveiled at the Rally Italia Sardegna, the sixth round of the 2024 WRC season, this game-changing agreement marks the WRC’s long-awaited comeback to the Middle East after a decade-long absence since the 2011 Jordan Rally. Far more than a mere strategic maneuver, this agreement showcases the WRC’s unwavering commitment to providing fans worldwide with a renewed and electrifying experience.
By featuring a wide range of landscapes, Rally Saudi Arabia aims to deliver an unprecedented experience for competitors, who will be faced with conditions never before seen in the history of WRC, from volcanic rock to sandy desert terrain. Saudi Arabia, although a fresh addition to the WRC, has already established itself as a reliable host for various global sporting competitions, like the Dakar Rally, Formula 1, football, and golf.
Saudi Arabia, although a fresh addition to the WRC, has already established itself as a reliable host for various global sporting competitions
HRH Prince Khalid Bin Sultan Al Abdullah Al-Faisal, chairperson of the Saudi Automobile and Motorcycle Federation and the Saudi Motorsport Company, was delighted to welcome WRC to Saudi Arabia: “We are thrilled to host the FIA World Rally Championship for the first time in 2025. The arrival of another racing series of global stature in Saudi Arabia confirms the extent of our transformation into a major hub for motorsport in the region.
“From 2025 we will proudly host Formula 1, Formula E, Extreme E, the Dakar Rally, and now WRC and Rally Saudi Arabia in the Kingdom – an extraordinary accomplishment. By growing our motorsport portfolio and further increasing our commitment to hosting major motorsport series such as WRC in the Kingdom, we remain true to the goals of Vision 2030 which aims to improve the lives of all Saudis. We will use the experience we have gained from delivering so many world-class motorsport events to ensure that the Saudi edition on the WRC calendar is one of the standout events of the 2025 season and beyond.”
“This is a great moment for motorsport in the Middle East”
FIA President Mohammed Ben Sulayem added: “This is a great moment for motorsport in the Middle East. It has been over a decade since the FIA World Rally Championship last visited the region, and from my own experience, I know very well the unique challenges that the drivers and co-drivers will face when Rally Saudi Arabia gets underway in 2025. It’s going to be a great opportunity for national and regional drivers to showcase their talents on the world stage, and I am very thankful to Prince Khalid bin Sultan Al-Faisal for continuing to push forward and develop our sport in Saudi Arabia.”
Each day of the championship will present the drivers with completely different obstacles, allowing them to experience the full breadth of Saudi Arabia’s natural beauty, from bustling cities to vast deserts and majestic mountains to serene oceans. This is a rally that will add its own unique identity to the championship.
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