ADAC plans WRC comeback: World Rally Championship round at the Nürburgring?

(Motorsport-Total.com) - The World Rally Championship (WRC) will not be held in Germany in 2026. After three editions , the Rally Central Europe was held for the last time this year . While the three-country rally was well received by participants and spectators, organizing and financing an event across multiple national borders proved difficult and inefficient.

However, rally racing will continue in the region around Passau in the future. The ADAC Southern Bavaria has already announced that the 3-City Rally will return next year. The German participation in the Rally Central Europe emerged from the structures of this traditional event.

In the medium term, the ADAC aims to bring the WRC back to Germany. And in doing so, a solution is coming into focus that could excite many motorsport fans: a World Championship race around (and possibly on) the Nürburgring.

Service park at the Nürburgring, tests on the Moselle?

Such considerations have been underway for some time, and speculation heated up again last week on the sidelines of the Rally Central Europe. "It won't work out for next season, but going to the [Nürburgring] Nordschleife for some stages and the service park is part of the plans for the future," an unnamed, high-ranking source was quoted as saying by the DirtFish portal.

The idea of ​​holding a WRC race around the Nürburgring is, in fact, more than just a loose idea. The Grand Prix track's paddock would provide the perfect infrastructure for the service park, and the ADAC Mittelrhein offers the technical expertise needed to organize a rally at the highest level.

The local association has been organizing the Middle Rhine Rally since 2021. This round of the German Rally Championship uses special stages on the Moselle River that were previously contested as part of the Rally Germany. The distance from the Nürburgring to the Moselle River would allow for integration into a new WRC round in Germany. Theoretically, a return to the Baumholder military training area and the legendary "Panzerplatte" special stage would also be conceivable—albeit at the cost of very long connecting stages.

Rally on the Nordschleife would be nothing new

But rally racing wouldn't be breaking new ground around the Nürburgring either. The Cologne-Ahrweiler Rally is held there every November. The highlight of this event, which is primarily aimed at vehicles from the classic car class, is the "Feste Nürburg" special stage.

This event will involve driving large sections of the Nürburgring Nordschleife – but in reverse. Such an extraordinary experience with WRC cars and the top drivers of the World Rally Championship would certainly attract more than just rally fans to the "Green Hell."

Whether this will happen in 2027 is currently uncertain. This is also due to the uncertain future of the WRC promoter. In August of this year, the FIA ​​announced that it was looking for a new promoter for the World Rally Championship . The uncertainty regarding the future contact person makes financial planning for a potential WRC event particularly difficult.

A complete comeback of the classic Rally Germany, as it was held as part of the WRC until 2019, is currently ruled out after the ADAC Saarland withdrew as organizer in 2021 .