The FIA World Motor Sport Council approved the 2015 WRC calendar last week.
As usual the WRC season starts with Rallye Monte Carlo, to be held on the last weekend in January. Rally Australia maintains its mid-September date and the 13-race calender ends in Great Britain in mid-November.
Check out the calendar in full after the break.
The 2015 WRC calendar was announced at the recent FIA World Motor Sport Council meeting held in Beijing. It’s largely a carbon copy of this year’s calendar with the only change being the sensible swap with Rally Argentina and Rally Portugal, meaning the South American rally will follow after Rally Mexico.
| Round | Date | Country | Rally |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 25 January | MCO | Rallye Monte Carlo* |
| 2 | 15 February | SWE | Rally Sweden |
| 3 | 8 March | MEX | Rally Mexico |
| 4 | 19 April | ARG | Rally Argentina |
| 5 | 24 May | PRT | Rallye de Portugal |
| 6 | 14 June | ITA | Rally d'Italia |
| 7 | 5 July | POL | Rally Poland |
| 8 | 2 August | FIN | Rally Finland |
| 9 | 23 August | DEU | Rallye Deutschland* |
| 10 | 13 September | AUS | Rally Australia |
| 11 | 4 October | FRA | Rallye de France* |
| 12 | 25 October | ESP | Rally de España |
| 13 | 15 November | GBR | Rally Great Britain |
* Subject to Promotion Agreement
The last time the FIA WMSC met it signed off on the 2014 WRC calendar, but after its most recent meeting overnight a small change to the calendar was made by pushing back Rally d’Italia one week to 8 June.
A number of other issues relating to the WRC and minor championships were addressed as well and can be read in the notes from the meeting after the break.
Of course the World Motor Sport Council doesn’t just deal with F1 and after their meeting held last Friday the FIA has published the calendar for the 2014 WRC season.
Good news for local rally fans, too, with Rally Australia backing up from this year’s event. It will take place on the weekend ending 14 September. Rally New Zealand, which has previously alternated on a year by year basis with Australia, is absent from next year’s calendar.
As usual the WRC gang kicks off early with the traditional opener, Rallye Monte Carlo, due to finish on 19 January. And like this year there will be 13 races in all.
Unlike the relative instability of the F1 calendar, the WRC schedule has only altered slightly from this year’s schedule. Rally Acropolis has been dropped and replaced by Rally Poland.
You can check out the full calendar after the break.