The Portugal Rally will not be held in 2027, due to its exclusion from the World Rally (WRC). The decision was confirmed by the Automobile Clube de Portugal, which points to the return in 2028.
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09/10/2026
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O Rali de Portugal will not take place next year. The proof failed to stay in World Rally World (WRC), which means you will also be suspended next year.
In response to Minute Auto, the Automobile Clube de Portugal (ACP) confirmed without going into details: “The Portugal Rally will not take place in 2027“.
The WRC added two new rallies to the calendar for the next season, a total of 15 – one more than the original plans for 2026, before the cancellation of the Saudi Arabian Rally due to the conflict in the Middle East.
With the United States and the United Kingdom (in Scotland) reentering the World Rally route, portugal's Rally just had to leave to give way. This was even though, in May last year, the renewal of the contract with WRC Promoter was announced by 2028.
AND it is precisely for the return in 2028 that the organization of the event points out, revealing in a statement that conversations between the two parties have already begun.
WRC output was a turnaround at the last hour, when there were already dates for the Rali of Portugal 2027 (13 to 16 May). According to the ACP, the decision is aimed at ensuring greater geographical diversity in the calendar – which returns to the United States of America 38 years later and goes to the United Kingdom as it did not happen since 2019.
Portugal stay off the Worlds route may represent a loss of eur 190 million to the region that usually hosts the Rali of Portugal, advanced last week the Jornal de Notícias, which cites the president of the Regional Entity of Tourism of Porto and Norte, Luís Pedro Martins.
Almost two decades of consecutive presence at WRC
Since 2009 Rali de Portugal has always integrated the WRC agenda – including 2020, the year in which it had to be cancelled due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
In this period, it began to take place in the south of the country, before returning to its “home” in the northern sections – where it found Matosinhos as the usual nerve center.
The first edition of the Portugal Rally was in 1967, debuting at the 1973 World Cup to remain there uninterrupted until 1995. After a break in 1996, he returned between 1997 and 2001, followed by a long absence until 2007. There was no space the following year before returning “from stone and lime” in 2009.