The UK has become a backbone of rallying’s top flight, appearing on the inaugural calendar in 1973 and holding a spot on the schedule until 2019 courtesy of Rally GB, formerly known as the RAC Rally.
However, the event dropped off the calendar in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic and has failed to return.
A bid fronted by promoter Bobby Willis to bring the WRC back to the UK in Northern Ireland has made three attempts to join the calendar – in 2021, 2022 and 2023 – but was unable to secure the necessary funding, believed to be approximately £3 million.
In February, the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Motorsport, an informal group of members of UK parliament, met with senior representatives of the WRC, Motorsport UK, the event promoter, Tourism Northern Ireland and Events Northern Ireland to revive the bid, which resulted in the end of April being set as a deadline to secure the required funding for an event next year.
This deadline has now been pushed back a further month.
“Every second day I’m talking to Bobby Willis and it is not over yet,” WRC event director Simon Larkin told Motorsport.com. “There is still bit more time to go. The government in Northern Ireland is now starting to maybe be a bit more effective following the new Brexit agreement.
“It is unfortunate to say but the reality is Craig Breen’s death has awakened the entire island of Ireland about the sport, legacy a bit more, and even its size and scope there.
“Rallying in Ireland both sides of the border, they do massive events every couple of weeks with 150 cars. We are still working very strongly and hard as we can.”
Elfyn Evans (GB), M-Sport Ford WRT, Ford Fiesta WRC 2019
Photo by: McKlein / McMaster
Motorsport UK CEO Hugh Chambers admits there are funding hurdles to overcome but says the organisation won’t “stop” until it can secure a WRC round back in the UK.
“The problem we have got there is we have the will of the politicians and the civil servants in Tourism Northern Ireland, but Stormont [Northern Irish government] is not sitting so there isn’t any body that can approve this kind of activity,” said Chambers.
“People like MPs James Sutherland and Ian Paisley, there are a lot of people pushing really hard but it is massively frustrating that we can’t get this one across the line.
“We are not stopping there we are looking at all the home nations, revisiting Wales and having conversations in Scotland and looking at the North of…
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