How the WRC's UK return is starting to get real

The countdown to the biggest moment for British rallying this decade is well and truly on. A little over a year from now the World Rally Championship is set to return to these shores, and the Scottish forests will echo to the evocative sights and sounds of the world’s best rally drivers in action. 

After the fanfare of the announcement in March that Rally Scotland has signed a three-year deal to host a round of the WRC, using gravel roads around Aberdeenshire and Moray regions, preparations are well under way. Rally Scotland, expected to receive an October 2027 date, not only aims to pick up on the heritage of Rally GBs of old, but also to create its own story for a new generation, while offering a platform to grow rallying in the UK, which has endured difficult times of late.

“There’s no question it’s got the potential to be, I believe, one of the best rallies in the world championship,” said former rally driver, WRC team owner and now FIA deputy president for sport Malcolm Wilson at the event launch in March. That’s a big statement but one that has been taken to heart by the team organising Rally Scotland, boosted by an Aberdeenshire community galvanised by the prospect of the effect it can have on its economy, estimated to be in the region of £80million. 

So what can we expect from Rally Scotland? Autosport made the trip to Aberdeen for the Grampian Forest Rally, held in nearby Banchory in August. This was not only a round of the British Rally Championship, but also acted as the FIA’s Rally Scotland candidate event. A team from the governing body descended upon Aberdeen to oversee the rally, observe rally control and the organisation teams at work, and assess the infrastructure, including the proposed service park and stages, for next year’s event to ensure it meets the criteria required for the WRC.

The FIA was not alone in gathering information. A host of WRC stars attended, including Toyota's championship leader Elfyn Evans, M-Sport Ford Rally1 driver Jon Armstrong – they both jumped aboard Rally2 cars to contest the rally – plus the factory Lancia WRC2 squad of Yohan Rossel and Nikolay Gryazin and M-Sport’s Romet Jurgenson. 

So, let’s start with the stages. What has been determined is that Rally Scotland will be challenging for the crews. While the route is yet to be finalised, there was one word all drivers used to describe the gravel stages they encountered, and that was “fast”.  

Autosport can back up that claim. We were fortunate enough to jump in alongside eventual Grampian Forest Rally winner Armstrong, who claimed his first gravel rally win – a good omen for next year. A three-minute, high-speed blast in the co-driver seat of an M-Sport Ford Fiesta Rally2 through the logpile-lined forest roads, which flash by in an instant, was more than enough to convince that the roads are indeed outrageous in regard to the speed at which they can be traversed in a Rally2 car.

There’s no margin for error and there are plenty of blind crests and jumps, a challenge that will only intensify with a splash of autumn weather. These roads would be epic in the current Rally1 car, but Rally2 seems more than fast enough, banishing fears that the new WRC27/Rally2 formula may not be super-spectacular. 

Passenger ride with Armstrong is enough to show the world-class potential of fast and spectacular Scottish gravel stages

Photo by: Tom Howard

But what do the experts have to say? Judging by his performance, our tour guide is pretty excited at the prospect of what is to come next year. “The stages are going to be really good,” enthuses Armstrong. “They have such a nice character and camber, and are very, very fast, so I think it’s going to be a brilliant event. Overall it has been impressive the type of roads we have here, and they have way more forests they are looking at for next year.”  

Evans wasn’t timed during the event, running as the zero car, but the Welshman was equally impressed: “It’s going to be quite challenging. It’s fast, and I think a Rally1 car actually would have been mega, but obviously we won’t have that. Generally, quite flowing stages, not very high grip. But maybe that’s a little bit to do with being first on the road, and it dried out quite a lot. 

“We’ve got a flavour, we know a bit of what to expect. The Rally2 car is very much in line with what we’re going to have next year, so we’ve been able to evaluate tyre wear and all that. And, of course, it is drier now, probably than we’re going to have next year. We’ll learn something from it, I’m sure, even if it doesn’t feel super-significant at the moment. Obviously, it’s surprising what getting your eye in can do.” 

Likewise, the FIA liked what it saw from its assessment of the stages, but that wasn’t the only part of Rally Scotland’s plans that struck a chord. 

“The P&J Live arena is an incredible venue. You have so many possibilities, so many solutions. It’s WRC level, very close to the airport, everything close to the town. You have everything here” Nicolas Klinger

Flying into Aberdeen, one of the reasons why the bid to host the WRC has been successful becomes clear. It’s the infrastructure, ambition and investment that stand out. Within a five-minute drive from Aberdeen International Airport is the world-class, 48,000-square-metre P&J Live conference centre and arena, which will be the hub for the rally.

The service park and rally control will be based there, just a stone’s throw from a plethora of hotels that teams and spectators can use. The stages are located not far from the service park either, so the rally should provide a compact format that competitors and fans will enjoy. 

“I can say that there are two different kinds of stages,” says FIA safety delegate Nicolas Klinger, who was among the official contingent to make the trip. “Having different days of different character, it’s good. Honestly, no major concerns [with the stages], just fine-tuning things and we have that everywhere we go. 

“The P&J Live arena is an incredible venue. You have so many possibilities, so many solutions. When you have a small service park to try to fit everything, it looks complicated and then it looks crowded. Then when it’s too big, if it looks empty, it’s not good either. So it’s all these things that we try to discuss and see where you place this, that, and how to arrange it. It’s WRC level, very close to the airport, everything close to the town. You have everything here.” 

Well-connected infrastructure stands out: P&J Live conference centre and arena will be the hub of next year’s event

Photo by: Tom Howard

Even before a wheel has turned in anger, Rally Scotland appears to be ticking a lot of boxes, but there is still plenty of work ahead to ensure that the 2027 event is a success, and the potential that Wilson believes the rally has is met. Certainly at the heart of this will be the Aberdeen, Aberdeenshire and Moray community, with more than 120 businesses offering their support.  

Rallying is woven into the fabric of society in Scotland thanks to the exploits of Jimmy, Colin and Alister McRae, so it goes without saying that this event will be popular. While the event will attract a strong following from the hardcore rally community, who have been desperate for the WRC to return, event promotion and attracting the next generation of rally fans has been identified as a key objective – that it’s important to ensure the event provides a legacy, injecting new life into British rallying that trickles down to grassroots level.

Motorsport UK’s commercial and events director Colin Clark, who has been an integral part of the Rally Scotland bid, says discussions have already been held with the WRC’s new promoter over how it plans to showcase Rally Scotland. 

“A bit more than a year out, things are progressing pretty well,” he reckons. “We’re building a team and we’ve got a lot of latent knowledge. We’ve got a lot of the old team [who ran Wales Rally GB] that we’re bringing back into play. There’s a lot of pent-up demand, lots of people really want to get involved and lots of people are backing the event, and that’s just great to see. 

“We had some good meetings with the WRC Promoter, so they were able to share their education and early insight about their potential plans, which is very exciting. We look forward to working very closely with them and delivering upon their vision for the sport. I think we all acknowledge that the WRC has got the opportunity to be jet-propelled.

“We’re all fans of it. But part of our frustration always is that why do more people not get what we see? It’s an incredible, visceral experience whenever you come to an event and see the best drivers in the world competing in the toughest stages.  

“We’re working hard and we’ve got lots of ideas about promotion, about ‘Scotifying’ the WRC, making sure that it doesn’t look like any other. This part of the world has great heritage, great monuments, great castles. It’s got great culture. There are lots of ideas that we can bring to the table. 

“We’ve got really supportive partners and tourism authorities and local authorities to make this stuff happen. We’re heartened for what this event can be. And we’re kind of only limited by our imaginations. If Malcolm thinks this has good potential to be one of the best events in the world, then that’s the ambition. That’s where the bar is set.”

This article is one of many in the monthly Autosport magazine. For more premium content, take a look at the September 2026 issue and subscribe today.

WRC star Evans drove the zero car, reporting that “it’s going to be quite challenging”

Photo by: Wishart Mediaspacesuit