The World Rally Championship is set to return to Germany in the future – reasons for holding a WRC race around the Nürburgring
The World Rally Championship (WRC) will not be coming to Germany in 2026. After three editions, the Central European Rally was held for the last time this year. Although the three-country rally was well received by participants and spectators, organizing and financing an event across several national borders proved difficult and inefficient.
However, rallying will continue in the Passau region in the future. ADAC South Bavaria has already announced that the 3-City Rally will return next year. The German part of the Central European Rally emerged from the structures of this traditional event.
In the medium term, the ADAC wants to bring the WRC back to Germany. And a solution is coming into focus that could thrill many motorsport fans: a World Championship race around (and possibly on) the Nürburgring.
Service park at the Nürburgring, stages on the Moselle?
Such considerations have been around for some time, and speculation boiled over again last week on the sidelines of the Central European Rally. “It won’t work out for next season, but for some stages and the service park on the [Nürburgring] Nordschleife are part of the plans for the future,” an unnamed high-ranking source was quoted as saying by the DirtFish portal. The idea of holding a WRC race around the Nürburgring is indeed more than just a vague notion. The paddock of the Grand Prix circuit would provide the perfect infrastructure for the service park.
The ADAC Mittelrhein has the technical expertise to organize a rally at the highest level. The local association has been organizing the Rally Mittelrhein since 2021. The German Rally Championship round uses special stages on the Moselle that were previously driven as part of Rally Germany.
The distance from the Nürburgring to the Moselle would allow for integration into a new WRC race in Germany. Theoretically, a return to the Baumholder military training area and the legendary “Panzerplatte” special stage would also be conceivable – albeit at the cost of very long connecting stages.
Rallying on the Nordschleife would be nothing new
But rallying would not be entering uncharted territory around the Nürburgring either. The Cologne-Ahrweiler Rally is held there every year in November. The highlight of this event, which is primarily aimed at vehicles from the youngtimer class, is the “Feste Nürburg” special stage.
This involves driving large sections of the Nürburgring Nordschleife – but in the opposite direction. Such an extraordinary experience with WRC cars and the top drivers of the World Rally Championship would certainly attract more than just rally fans to the “Green Hell.”
However, it is currently uncertain whether this will happen in 2027. This is also due to the unresolved future of the WRC promoter. In August of this year, the International Automobile Federation (FIA) announced that it was looking for a new marketer for the World Rally Championship. The uncertainty about the future contact person makes it particularly difficult to plan the finances for a possible World Championship race.
A complete comeback of the classic Rally Germany, as it was held until 2019 as part of the WRC, is currently out of the question after the ADAC Saarland withdrew as organizer in 2021.
