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WRC confident of Middle East round in 2025

The World Rally Championship is confident the Middle East will host a round of the championship next season.

Returning to the Middle East for the first time since Rally Jordan in 2011 has been a long-time goal for the championship, with Saudi Arabia understood to be the target to host a round in 2025.

The WRC has described a desert rally in this region as a "missing piece" of its current calendar.

Plans to add a Middle East round to the WRC schedule have come close to fruition in the last two years and it now appears as though 2025 is a likely eventuality, according to WRC event director Simon Larkin.

"We remain absolutely confident that in 2025 there will be a Middle East round of the WRC," Larkin told media including Autosport.

"We're also very confident because we will be ambitious that when we have a WRC event in the region, we think it can also revitalise the Middle East Rally Championship, and we will work very tirelessly to make that happen.

"We think it's a really critical market for competitors. We all remember quite a few years ago we had so many Middle Eastern competitors competing here at every level, and we want to bring that back and having a foundation event there we know is a critical thing there."

The possible inclusion of a Middle East round to the championship next year arrives at a time when several countries are bidding to join the WRC in 2025.

Ireland is among those aiming to secure a three-year deal to join the WRC beginning from next year, after revealing its plans to media last month.

Source: Autosport

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