Rally Scotland gets September start as WRC confirms 15-round 2027 calendar

Rally Scotland has been assigned September 30 to October 3 on the 2027 World Rally Championship calendar, confirming the dates for the series' first UK round since 2019. The FIA announced a 15-round schedule following approval by its World Motor Sport Council, while BBC Sport reported that the new Scottish gravel rally will be the season's 12th round.

Organisers have also clarified the wider event timetable, which begins on September 28. Tuesday and Wednesday are reserved for reconnaissance, allowing drivers and co-drivers to study the route at controlled speeds and prepare their pacenotes. Shakedown follows on Thursday morning, with the event starting later that day. The main competitive legs are scheduled for Friday through Sunday, ending on October 3.

Aberdeen will serve as the rally's base, with headquarters and the service park at The Event Complex Aberdeen. Crews will compete on closed gravel roads in the forests of north-east Scotland. The event is being developed by Motorsport UK and follows an initial three-year agreement for the championship's return, covering 2027 through 2029, according to the FIA's earlier announcement.

Scotland is part of a broader calendar reshuffle that also restores a United States round. Rally US is scheduled for August 26-29, marking the WRC's first visit to the country since 1988 after a successful candidate event in June 2026. Italy's round will meanwhile take place on July 8-11, with tarmac stages in Rome and the surrounding Lazio region replacing the gravel setting in Sardinia.

The championship will open with Rallye Monte-Carlo on January 21-24, followed by Sweden and Kenya. Croatia, the Canary Islands and Japan form a sequence of three tarmac events. After the summer rounds and the American and Scottish events, the calendar moves to Paraguay and Chile before concluding in Saudi Arabia on November 25-28. New technical regulations will also take effect in 2027.

For UK audiences, the date announcement follows the BBC's three-year broadcast agreement covering 2027-29. Rally Scotland organisers say that deal includes extensive live coverage of their event as well as live coverage of every championship round. Further details on the Scottish route, tickets, volunteering and spectator arrangements have not yet been released and are due in the coming months.