Motorsport Ireland’s bid to host the World Rally Championship in a three-year deal from 2025 has fallen through.
Organisers were not able to meet the deadline to obtain the necessary funding set by WRC officials. The Irish government said it would need “at least six months” to assess and analyse the proposal.
In an statement Motorsport Ireland replied in this response “It is with deep regret that Motorsport Ireland today confirm that Ireland is no longer being considered to host a round of the FIA World Rally Championship in 2025.
On Monday April 15th Motorsport Ireland finally received confirmation from Minister Byrne, Minister of State for Sport, Physical Education and the Gaeltacht, that his Department would need “at least six months” to undertake further independent economic assessments and analysis of our proposal.
The closing date for the bidding process with WRC Promoter GmbH was the end of Q1 this year, a date that Motorsport Ireland made both Minister Byrne and the Major Sports Events Unit aware of from the outset. Due to having received no update the Department by the Q1 deadline, Motorsport Ireland requested, and were granted, an extension of a fortnight from the promoter.
The promoter cutoff date must be respected so that they can plan their 2025-2027 calendar strategy. This Q1 deadline was flagged in Motorsport Ireland’s event screening application and in all subsequent communications to the Department.
We are extremely thankful to WRC Promoter GmbH for granting us an extension to try and make inclusion for 2025 possible but yesterday’s response from Minister Byrne confirms it cannot happen.”
Waterford the home county of late Irish WRC driver Craig Breen – Limerick and Kerry were set to alternate as host locations over three years, starting from 2025. Harper said all three bids were “exceptional” and “inseparable” after inspection.
When launching Rally Ireland’s bid, Motorsport Ireland were asking for an investment of 15m euros over three years for a return of 300m euros. Rally Ireland is still under consideration for a future calendar slot in 2026 according to WRC promoters.
