The FIA World Rally Championship will run a round in the United States from August 26 to 29, 2027, its first here since the 1988 Olympus Rally in Washington state. The FIA World Motor Sport Council approved Rally US as round 11 of a 15-event WRC calendar, announced October 8, 2026.
Neither the FIA nor the organizer has named a host city. Autosport and RACER report a gravel event based around Knoxville, Tennessee, with stages in Tennessee and Kentucky, the two states where the FIA held its candidate event in June.
Rally US says it will announce host locations, ticketing plans, fan activations and event partnerships on Tuesday, October 27.
Key Takeaways
- Rally US runs August 26-29, 2027 as round 11 of 15 on the FIA World Rally Championship calendar approved October 8, 2026.
- It is the first WRC round in the United States since 1988, when the Olympus Rally ran in Washington state.
- No host city is official yet. Autosport and RACER report a Knoxville, Tennessee base with gravel stages in Tennessee and Kentucky.
- Rally US will name host locations and ticketing plans on October 27, 2026, according to the organizer.
- The FIA ran a candidate event June 11-17, 2026 in Kentucky and Tennessee with ACCUS and promoter Podium Event Partners.
- None of the three Rally1 cars is based on a model sold in the U.S. Toyota’s GR Corolla Rally RC2, built on a car Toyota does sell here, won the Olympus Rally in April 2026.
- Ford returns as a full factory WRC team in 2028 and will build a new Rally1 car for 2029, the FIA said.
Rally US Is Round 11 of 15 on the 2027 Calendar
The 2027 season opens at Rallye Monte-Carlo in January and closes in Saudi Arabia in November. Rally US sits alone in the late-summer gap between Rally Finland, which ends August 1, and Rally Scotland, which starts September 30.
| Round | Rally | 2027 Dates |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Rallye Monte-Carlo | January 21-24 |
| 2 | Rally Sweden | February 18-21 |
| 3 | Safari Rally Kenya | March 18-21 |
| 4 | Croatia Rally | April 8-11 |
| 5 | Rally Islas Canarias | May 6-9 |
| 6 | FORUM8 Rally Japan | June 3-6 |
| 7 | EKO Acropolis Rally Greece | June 24-27 |
| 8 | Rally d’Italia (Rome) | July 8-11 |
| 9 | Delfi Rally Estonia | July 22-25 |
| 10 | Secto Rally Finland | July 29-August 1 |
| 11 | Rally US | August 26-29 |
| 12 | Rally Scotland | September 30-October 3 |
| 13 | ueno Rally del Paraguay | October 21-24 |
| 14 | Rally Chile BiobÃo | November 4-7 |
| 15 | Rally Saudi Arabia | November 25-28 |
Britain is back in the same announcement, with Rally Scotland based in Aberdeen and the first U.K. round since 2019.
Rally d’Italia moves to Rome and steps up from the European championship.
In the FIA’s release, president Mohammed Ben Sulayem said the United States “gives us an exciting opportunity to grow in a country where interest in rallying continues to rise.”
Kentucky and Tennessee Hosted the June Candidate Event
On January 27 the FIA set a WRC candidate event, a trial run organized to championship standards and watched by its delegates, for June 11-17, 2026, in Kentucky and Tennessee. It was run with ACCUS, the U.S. national sporting authority, and Podium Event Partners, the would-be promoter, which the FIA said has experience in disciplines including NASCAR.
The delegation started at the Southern Ohio Forest Rally, round four of the American Rally Association National Championship, DirtFish reported. In Tennessee and Kentucky it inspected the route, looked at a service park in Knoxville’s World’s Fair Park and toured Broadway in Nashville as a possible ceremonial start.
Timo Rautiainen, a two-time world champion co-driver who is now the FIA’s WRC sporting delegate, told DirtFish the stages “are unlike any other stages that I have seen in the championship,” some slow and twisty, others fast, with “very compact, crushed gravel” on nearly every one.
Jari-Matti Latvala, Toyota’s WRC team principal, tested a GR Corolla Rally RC2 on Kentucky roads in 2025. “They’re smooth, no stones, fast and flowing stages,” he told DirtFish in July.
WRC Organizers Pushed the U.S. Debut From 2026 to 2027
A test event was planned for Chattanooga in 2023, according to Autosport, and in 2024 the series set out a roadmap to a 2026 round. WRC Promoter and ACCUS later decided to hold the event back to 2027 at the earliest to give it the best chance of success.
The U.S. promoter began the project before the new WRC Promoter came in, WRC chief operating officer Julien Vial told Autosport, so the 2027 event will keep the usual format with a Thursday shakedown. “We are working to make a big show with a big ceremonial start,” he said.
“For 38 years, America has been the missing pin on the FIA World Rally Championship map,” Matt Crews, president and CEO of Rally US, said in the organizer’s October 8 release.
“This moment belongs to the American rally community,” he added. “For decades, the competitors, volunteers, organizers and fans kept this sport alive on American roads, and their work is what proved to the FIA that our country is ready.”
The Last U.S. Round Ran in Washington in 1988
The Olympus Rally held WRC rounds in 1986, 1987 and 1988 in the forests of western Washington. The December 1986 running was the final event of the Group B era, and Markku Alén’s Lancia Delta S4 beat Juha Kankkunen’s Peugeot 205 T16.
Kankkunen became world champion 11 days later.
The event moved to June in 1987. Lancia flew five Group A Delta HFs from northern Italy and all five finished in the top seven. Miki Biasion lost half a minute to a loose plug lead, and team manager Nini Russo froze the order with 19 stages left, giving Kankkunen the win by 12 seconds.
The 1987 route ran through Seattle’s Golden Gardens, the only WRC stage ever held in the city, according to DirtFish.
Björn WaldegÃ¥rd finished sixth, 18 minutes back, in a Group A Toyota Supra; it was Toyota Team Europe’s last trip to Tacoma.
Biasion won in 1988, and Lancia clinched the manufacturers’ title after seven rounds. Much of the Weyerhaeuser Forest mileage was lost when a sponsor pulled out weeks before that start, and volunteers rewrote large parts of the roadbook. DirtFish attributes the round’s withdrawal to a failure to win over local fans the way rallying had farther south in the Americas.
A GR Corolla Won the 2026 Olympus Rally
Olympus continues as a national championship event based in Shelton, Washington. The April 17-19, 2026 running marked 40 years since the Group B finale with a three-day, nearly 200-mile route, the longest in ARA history, and a 98-car field drawn from 12 countries.
Latvala and co-driver Tuukka Shemeikka won it in a Toyota GR Corolla Rally RC2, seven minutes ahead of teammate Seth Quintero, for Toyota Gazoo Racing World Rally Team’s first ARA national win. Lia Block finished third in a Hyundai i20 Rally2 after recovering from 13th. The ARA lists the results as provisional pending a protest involving car No. 199.
“Forty years ago Markku Alén won this event, and to now be part of that history with Toyota makes it a very proud moment for me,” Latvala said in the ARA’s release.
No Rally1 Car Is Based on a Model Sold in the U.S.
Toyota’s top-class entry is the GR Yaris Rally1, and the GR Yaris has no page on toyota.com, which sells the GR Corolla instead. Hyundai’s i20 N Rally1 comes from a hatchback absent from Hyundai’s U.S. site. M-Sport’s Ford Puma Rally1 is based on a small crossover that does not appear in Ford’s U.S. SUV lineup.
Ford will return to the WRC with a full factory program in 2028 and build an all-new Rally1 car under the 2029 rules, the FIA said. FIA deputy president for sport Malcolm Wilson told Autosport the U.S. round has “probably been one of the influencing factors” in that decision. “Ford has been building cars and trucks in Kentucky for over 100 years,” Ford Racing global director Mark Rushbrook told DirtFish in July.
New WRC27 technical rules take effect in 2027 and let independent tuners build top-class cars alongside manufacturers. The FIA caps a ready-to-compete WRC27 car in tarmac specification at €345,000.
Rally US Names Its Host Cities on October 27
Rally US is confirmed for August 26-29, 2027, as round 11 of 15, 39 years after Biasion’s 1988 Olympus win. The roads the FIA saw in June run through Kentucky and Tennessee on crushed gravel, and the reported base is Knoxville. Spectator stages, tickets and the ceremonial start location are due October 27. Fans can register for ticket updates and volunteer sign-ups at wrcrallyus.com.
Frequently Asked Questions
When is WRC Rally US 2027?
August 26-29, 2027. It is round 11 of the 15-round 2027 FIA World Rally Championship, between Rally Finland and Rally Scotland.
Where will Rally US be held?
The FIA and the organizer have not named a host city. Autosport and RACER report a gravel rally based around Knoxville, Tennessee, with stages in Tennessee and Kentucky. Rally US says it will announce host locations on October 27, 2026.
When was the last WRC round in the United States?
The 1988 Olympus Rally in Washington state, won by Miki Biasion for Lancia. Olympus hosted WRC rounds in 1986, 1987 and 1988.
How do I get tickets for Rally US?
Tickets are not on sale yet. Rally US says ticketing plans will be announced October 27, 2026, and its website, wrcrallyus.com, has a sign-up form for ticket updates.
Can I volunteer at Rally US?
Yes. Rally US is recruiting volunteers for stages and fan zones through its website, with registration handled by ACCUS.
What surface will Rally US use?
Gravel. FIA sporting delegate Timo Rautiainen described the candidate-event stages as “very compact, crushed gravel,” with a mix of slow, twisty sections and faster roads.
Who organizes Rally US?
Rally US, led by president and CEO Matt Crews, working with ACCUS, the FIA’s U.S. member. The FIA named Podium Event Partners as the proposed promoter and organizer in January 2026.
Which manufacturers race in the WRC?
Toyota, Hyundai and M-Sport Ford run Rally1 cars. Ford will return with a full factory team in 2028 and a new Rally1 car for 2029, according to the FIA.
Can you buy a WRC car’s road version in the U.S.?
Not the Rally1 models. The GR Yaris, Hyundai i20 and Ford Puma are not sold here. Toyota does sell the GR Corolla, and a GR Corolla Rally RC2 won the 2026 Olympus Rally.
Is Scotland also returning to the WRC?
Yes. Rally Scotland, based in Aberdeen, runs September 30 to October 3, 2027, the first U.K. round since 2019.
Michael Kahn
Michael Kahn is the writer, photographer, and publisher behind The Weekly Driver. He cares about how cars drive and what they're like to own. He covers automobile industry news, car shows and events, and new car reviews. The reviews come from behind the wheel: day trips that favor back routes, treating a good meal as half the reason to go. He directs and produces the visual media, matching each car to a setting and mood that fit it. When he's not reviewing new cars, Michael races paddleboards, camels, and ostriches, along with the occasional exotic car on the racetrack, and has driven in every state and country visited.
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