The World Rally Championship Returns to America in 2027, on Gravel in Tennessee and Kentucky
Rally US runs August 26–29, 2027, with Knoxville expected to host. It is the championship’s first American round since 1988.
The World Rally Championship is coming back to the United States. The 2027 calendar, confirmed on October 8, includes Rally US on August 26–29, a gravel event in the Southern Appalachian Mountains with stages in Tennessee and Kentucky.
It will be the first American round of the championship since 1988, and it puts top-level rallying within a day's drive of much of the eastern U.S. For a country whose off-road calendar is built around events like the Rebelle Rally, it is a very different kind of competition: flat-out timed stages on closed public roads.
What we know about Rally US
- Dates: August 26–29, 2027
- Surface: gravel
- Location: Tennessee and Kentucky, with Knoxville, Tennessee, expected to be the base
- Calendar: one of 15 rounds, between Rally Finland and a new Rally Scotland
The route and format have not been published. WRC organizers say details will follow.
How it got here
The U.S. round has been years in the making. In January, the FIA announced a candidate event for June 11–17, 2026, a trial run in which officials assessed stages and infrastructure in both states alongside ACCUS, the U.S. motorsport authority. The local promoter is Podium Event Partners.
"The United States represents one of the most important growth opportunities for the FIA World Rally Championship," FIA President Mohammed Ben Sulayem said when the candidate event was announced.
America's last WRC round was the Olympus Rally in Washington state, which ran from 1986 through 1988. Since then, American fans have followed the sport through imports with rally roots, which is part of why a possible Subaru WRX STI comeback still draws so much attention here.
What else is new for 2027
Rally US is one of three additions. Britain returns for the first time since 2019 with an Aberdeen-based Rally Scotland on September 30–October 3, and Italy's round moves to Rome on asphalt. The season opens in Monte Carlo on January 21–24 and ends in Saudi Arabia on November 25–28.
Ticketing, spectator areas and the exact stage map are the next things to watch for.
