The Croatia Rally will not be included in the World Rally Championship calendar for 2025 due to the failure to issue appropriate local guarantees to the organizer by the given deadline. As a result, the WRC Promoter has decided to hold the World Rally Championship events in 2025 in Saudi Arabia, Paraguay, and the Canary Islands.
The reasons for not being included in the 2025 season calendar are explained by Daniel Šaškin, the President of the Organizing Committee of the Croatia Rally: “After the successful organization of the WRC Croatia Rally 2023, we were offered a new three-year contract for the period from 2025 to 2027. We attempted to secure all the necessary documentation for signing the contract and continuing the WRC competition in Croatia, specifically the guarantees from the local institutions. Unfortunately, to this day, we have not been able to obtain all of them completely. At this moment, the only realistic option we see is to be included in the European Rally Championship calendar in 2025, with a return to the WRC in the 2026 and 2027 seasons. Of course, the following year’s participation - in 2026 and 2027 depends on the guarantees from certain institutions, and we hope they will be issued soon. I would like to thank all the partners who stand by us. The support from the City of Zagreb has been extremely valuable in the current negotiations, as the timely decision by the city assembly confirmed a three-year support for the WRC project. I assure you that this is not the end of the story of the Croatia Rally, but institutions will need to act quickly. We certainly do not want to permanently lose the WRC, and there are many interested parties. The World Championship will be held in three countries for the first time next year. Therefore, it is already necessary to sign a contract with the WRC Promoter and FIA for the 2026 and 2027 seasons, but we cannot sign the contract without the guarantees from these institutions. WRC Promoter and FIA are under extreme pressure, with only 14 countries in the calendar and significantly more interested parties.”
Over four successful WRC seasons, the Croatia Rally established itself as a well-organized event that presents a true sporting challenge to the crews and their teams. Typically, the winner was determined on the final stage, and the spectacular drives from 2021 to 2024 were followed by more than a million spectators on-site. Year after year, the Croatian rally also enjoyed excellent television viewership worldwide and set records for the number of related social media posts.
"We are extremely proud and satisfied with all that has been achieved over the past four years, and we have received congratulations from both the FIA and the WRC Promoter. The economic and marketing benefits for Croatia are measured in hundreds of millions of euros, as confirmed by socio-economic studies conducted by Prof. Dr. Oliver Kesar and his team of experts from the Faculty of Economics in Zagreb. The image of Croatia, broadcasted through TV broadcasts and footages, reached nearly one hundred million viewers annually in 165 countries around the world. In addition to the exceptional promotion of Croatia, this has brought the progress to Croatian motorsport, and I am confident that the Croatia Rally can continue to be a driving force for positive changes in domestic motorsports. Our intention is to keep our team together through the European Rally Championship in 2025, as the knowledge gained is invaluable. I hope we will soon receive all the necessary guarantees from local institutions and continue with the World Championship from 2026,” said Šaškin.
During the WRC Croatia Rally, more than 2,000 people were involved in its realization. In addition to judges and marshals, there was a large number of volunteers and emergency services personnel. All underwent training, particularly emergency services who can apply their acquired knowledge of rescuing accident victims from hybrid vehicles in case of traffic accidents of the growing kind of vehicles on Croatian roads.
Robert Markt, President of the Croatian Automobile and Karting Federation, further emphasized: “Over the past four years, we have all enjoyed the World Rally Championship events in Croatia. This exceptional experience has permanently transformed Croatian auto and karting sports for the better. We have proven to the world and to ourselves that we are capable of organizing even the most demanding events like the WRC round. On this occasion, I would like to thank the Government of the Republic of Croatia, the City of Zagreb, as well as other local and regional self-government units, and the strongest Croatian companies that have supported this event in previous years. Ahead of us is the 2025 season, during which we hope to organize a European Rally Championship (ERC) event. We also hope to soon secure all the necessary guarantees to once again host the WRC in Croatia in 2026 and 2027. No step in organizing WRC events has been easy, and this one, in which we are reorganizing the entire project, will be no different. I believe in the Croatia Rally organizing committee, led by Daniel Šaškin and Marin Frčko, who have the full support and assistance of the Croatian Automobile and Karting Federation.”
WRC Croatia
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