Kenya, New-Zealand and Japan confirmed on 2020 WRC Calendar

The FIA today announced the World Rally Championship calendar for the 2020 season, following an e-vote by the World Motor Sport Council this week.

Rally Monte-Carlo will open the season, as is tradition, while three new rounds, Rally Kenya, Rally New-Zealand and the season-closing Rally Japan, will make their return to the world stage. 

FIA Rally Director Yves Matton commented: “In order to further globalise the championship, we needed to have more WRC rounds outside Europe.”

“I am glad to see the results of our expansion strategy, with emblematic events such as Kenya and Japan coming back to the WRC calendar next year, alongside New Zealand replacing Australia, while long-standing, iconic European events provide a great balance and preserve the DNA of the sport.

“Following the integration of Chile last year, the 2020 calendar also expands our presence on both the Asian and African continents.

“With the strong interest of many countries to host a WRC round, we had more high-quality candidates than the number of slots available in the calendar, which demonstrates the robust health and popularity of the championship. The rotation system that we are adopting gives us the opportunity to maintain a higher number of good events in the WRC. 

“Thanks to the new calendar strategy that was put in place following the World Motor Sport Council in March 2019, we are able to announce the WRC schedule earlier than in recent years and in the future we aim to be in a position to publish it in March.”

The 2020 calendar, comprised of 14 rounds, is confirmed as follows: