The FIA World Rally Championship is returning to the United States for the first time in nearly 40 years, and Knoxville will serve as its host city. Organizers unveiled full details of Rally US, the American round of the series, on Tuesday. The event is scheduled for Aug. 26-29, 2027.
Crews of two will race modified, road-legal cars against the clock on closed public roads in Tennessee and Kentucky. The rally will include about 20 timed special stages, each running from two miles to 20 miles or more. The crew with the lowest combined time wins.
Knoxville will act as Rally Headquarters. The WRC Arena, which includes the team base and a fan festival, will be set up at World's Fair Park and the Knoxville Convention Center. A ceremonial start is planned for Lower Broadway in downtown Nashville, and competition stages will stretch from the Appalachian Mountains to the Cumberland Plateau across more than 15 counties in the two states.
Kim Bumpas, president of Visit Knoxville, said the city had been working on its bid for a long time. "It's a really exciting thing for Knoxville to be able to showcase us, tell the story of Tennessee, tell the story of the United States," she said. She added that the rally will put Knoxville "in front of millions and millions of eyeballs all over the world."
Bumpas said every team will return to Knoxville each night to work on cars and prepare for the next day's routes. She described the rally as potentially one of the biggest announcements Visit Knoxville has ever partnered on. Organizers say each WRC round draws an average global audience of more than 90 million viewers.
Marc De Jong, head of business development for WRC Promoter, said Knoxville was an ideal match. He pointed to a lively city ringed by strong driving roads, along with international airport access, nearby seaports, automotive manufacturing and a motorsports tradition. "There's the special sauce of Knoxville hospitality that really persuaded us that this is the right place to go," he said.
De Jong said drivers will encounter mountain forest roads that mix slow, twisting elevation changes with fast, open stretches on both gravel and tarmac. The top cars produce 300 to 400 horsepower and have four-wheel drive. A driver and co-driver work together, with the co-driver using pace notes to call out hazards. "They're hugely agile," De Jong said.
Organizers also pointed to the potential economic benefit. They said mature WRC rallies typically generate about $75 million in visitor spending on hotels, restaurants, rental cars, flights and souvenirs, as fans follow the action into rural counties. Matt Crews, president and CEO of Rally US, said, "Tennessee is in the hospitality and entertainment business, and nobody does it better."
Fans can already sign up for priority ticket access and premium hospitality packages, and can register to volunteer ahead of the 2027 rally.
