July the 20th, 2024 – The wildly popular WRC Croatia Rally draws insurmountable attention to Croatia from across the globe. Unfortunately, the WRC Croatia Rally 2025 is not to be.
As Poslovni Dnevnik writes, according to the organisers, the reason that the WRC Croatia Rally 2025 won’t be held here is is that they weren’t issued appropriate local guarantees by the given deadline. That’s why the WRC Promoter decided to hold the world rally races in 2025 in Saudi Arabia, Paraguay and the Canary Islands instead of here in Croatia.
“After the successful WRC Croatia Rally 2023, we were offered a new, three-year contract for the period from 2025 to 2027. In order to be able to sign on the dotted line and ensure the continuation of the WRC competition in Croatia, we tried to obtain all the necessary documentation. This specifically regarded guarantees from local institutions, but unfortunately we haven’t been able to obtain everything,” explained the president of the organising committee of the Croatia Rally, Daniel Šaškin.
over one million visitors
“At the moment, the only realistic option we have for the possibility of Croatia’s inclusion in the calendar of the European Rally Championship is to return in 2026 and 2027. Of course, both 2026 and 2027 depend on the guarantees of certain institutions, and we hope that what we need will be issued to us soon, as the deadline expires in just a few weeks”, he added.
Šaškin thanked the partners and pointed out that the support of the City of Zagreb, which confirmed the three-year support for the WRC Croatia Tally 2025 project in a timely manner by the timely decision of the City Assembly, was extremely useful for them in their ongoing negotiations.
“I can assure you that the story of Croatia Rally isn’t going to merely end here, but the institutions will now really have to react quickly. We don’t want to be left without the WRC permanently, and there are many interested parties, the World Championship will be held in three countries for the first time next year”, said Šaškin.
Through four successful seasons, the WRC Croatia Rally has established itself as a superbly organised competition that presents a real sporting challenge to all competitors. The races from 2021 to 2024 were followed by more than a million spectators in person with great television ratings around the world, as well as on social media.
the wrc croatia rally 2025 could have held endless marketing benefits
“The economic and marketing benefits for Croatia because of the race were measured in hundreds of millions of euros. Images from Croatia were seen by almost one hundred million viewers a year in 165 countries around the world via TV broadcasts and recordings. Aside from this truly exceptional promotion of Croatia, it all brought progress to Croatian autosport and I’m convinced that Croatia Rally can continue to be a flywheel for positive changes in Croatian motoring”, said Šaškin.
2000 participants
More than 2,000 people took part in the race’s realisation in the past. In addition to judges and ushers, there was a large number of volunteers and members of the emergency services present. All of them underwent the proper training, especially the emergency service personnel, who could apply the acquired knowledge of rescuing victims from hybrid cars in the event of traffic accidents.
“Over the past four years, we’ve all enjoyed WRC Croatia Rally. That exceptional experience forever changed the world of Croatian car and karting sport for the better. We proved to the world and to ourselves that we’re capable of organising even the most demanding races such as WRC races.
The 2025 season is now ahead of us, in which, I hope, we will organise a race of the European Rally Championship (ERC). I also hope that we’ll soon be able to obtain all the necessary guarantees in order to host the WRC in Croatia again in 2026 and 2027. I believe in the organising committee of Croatia Rally led by Daniel Šaškin and Marin Frčka, which has the full support and help of the Croatian Auto and Karting Association”, said Robert Markt, president of the Croatian Auto and Karting Association (HAKS).
