The World Rally Championship's long-promised return to the United States moved from ambition to assessment this week, with organisers completing the formal candidate event that any prospective round must pass before it can join the calendar.
A delegation from the FIA and WRC Promoter spent a week touring Tennessee and Kentucky alongside the Automobile Competition Committee of the United States (ACCUS), reviewing the proposed Rally US project that backers hope can land on the 2027 schedule. According to Motorsport.com, the group was in the country from 11-17 June.
The programme opened at the Southern Ohio Forest Rally, the fourth round of the American Rally Association (ARA) National Championship, where officials watched a national-level event run end to end and met competitors from the North American rally scene. From there the delegation moved to the proposed stages — a mix DirtFish described as ranging "from super-smooth, flat-out gravel roads to ultra-technical, twisty bedrock sections" — inspecting each from a sporting and safety standpoint.
The visit went well beyond the stages themselves. The group examined a planned service park in Knoxville's World's Fair Park, reviewed local medical facilities, and worked through the staffing, volunteer numbers and safety communication network a world championship round demands. It closed with a tour of Nashville's Broadway strip, earmarked as a potential ceremonial start venue.
FIA president Mohammed Ben Sulayem framed the completed event as a milestone rather than a finish line. "The completion of the Rally US candidate event marks an important first step towards the FIA World Rally Championship's return to the United States," he said. "With the candidate event now complete, our focus turns to detailing our reports and sharing our learnings with the local organisers."
He added a personal commitment to the project. "I am committed to bringing the WRC back to the United States, a nation where motorsport is part of its cultural DNA," Ben Sulayem said. "The candidate event gives us the opportunity not only to assess the proposed stages, but to also work closely with the organisers to shape the strongest possible event for the Championship, the competitors, and the fans."
WRC Promoter's Rally US project leader, Marc de Jong, was similarly upbeat about what he saw. "The concise presentations made by the Rally US team underlined once more the great potential of this proposed event: challenging roads set among incredible backdrops in a region brimming with car culture and welcoming hospitality," he said. He pointed, too, to the automotive weight of the region: "Add to that the significance of Tennessee and Kentucky for the automotive manufacturing sector, and it is clear to see that this would be the perfect location for the long-awaited return of WRC to the United States after four decades."
Rally US promoter Matt Crews, who has driven the bid, said the week had brought the goal within reach. "We've made great strides towards the ultimate goal of bringing the FIA World Rally Championship back to America and we're looking forward to the next steps now," he said, praising the "positivity and cohesiveness" between his team, ACCUS, the ARA and the visiting officials.
The United States has not hosted a round of the world championship since the 1988 Olympus Rally, and completion of the candidate event does not yet guarantee a slot. The FIA and WRC Promoter will now write up their findings, with a decision on whether Rally US meets the standard — and fits the 2027 calendar — expected in the coming months. For a championship already wrestling with its 2027 rules and a new commercial era, an American round would add both opportunity and another major question to the same planning cycle.
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*Originally published on [Motorsports Global](https://motorsports.global/article/wrc-edges-toward-us-return-as-rally-us-candidate-event-wraps). Visit for full coverage.*