DISCUSSIONS STARTED FOR LATVIA TO RETURN TO WRC
RA EVENTS, the organizer of international competitions in Latvia, has started negotiations with “WRC Promoter”, the organizer of the FIA European Rally Championship (ERC) and the FIA World Rally Championship (WRC), regarding the possibility of Latvia’s potential return to the international rallying calendars – first by organizing an ERC round in 2026 and then – in 2027 and 2028 – by bringing WRC back to Latvia again.
“At the beginning of the year, several rounds of discussions were held with WRC Promoter, as a result of which the prerequisites were defined for Latvia to host an ERC round in 2026, and then twice – in 2027 and 2028 – to experience the highest sporting and technical level of rallying – WRC round – thus allowing us to once again experience the emotions we lived through when we first spectated Tet Rally Latvia!”
“At the moment, multitude of negotiations await us in Latvia – we have been given time until July 31 to conduct talks with Latvian government representatives, municipalities, as well as rally partners and supporters. If by working hand-in-hand we can find the necessary solutions, Latvia stands a chance to organize a WRC round in the near future, a rally that could once again draw a crowd of more than 100,000 spectators,” said Raimonds Strokšs, Director of RA EVENTS.
“Such was the success of 2024 Tet Rally Latvia, WRC Promoter is pleased to enter negotiations for the event to return to ERC and WRC in the future. This is a project that will take significant commitment from all levels of government and the commercial sector, but we are confident that it is worthy investment, and we were able to prove that during the 2024 event through extensive market research. The Baltic and Nordic regions are exciting ones for rallying with current and future driver stars, and we are certain that these are regions that can sustain multiple events as we did in 2024,” Simon Larkin, Event Director of WRC Promoter.
To remind, Tet Rally Latvia – the historically first ever round of the FIA World Rally Championship in Latvia – took place on 18-21 July 2024, with special stages organized in Riga, Tukums region, Talsi and Talsi region, Kuldīga region, as well as in our rally city Liepāja and Dienvidkurzeme region. The research data after WRC round Tet Rally Latvia shows that the total in person attendance over the course of four days of the rally surpassed 100 000 spectators, while TV broadcasts, reflecting the happenings of Tet Rally Latvia, reached a global audience of 80,4 million in 61 countries around the world. The competition generated more than 24 million euros in total turnover for the economy of Latvia’s municipalities, of which more than 14 million euros were contributed by persons who had arrived in Latvia from abroad.