WRC to make service park changes to improve fan experience

World Rally Championship service parks will undergo changes to infrastructure this year with further improvements expected in 2026.

Improving the current service park model has emerged as the next target for the WRC’s promotional plan, with a view to enhancing both the fan and team experiences at events.

This time last year the WRC released its promotions strategy to stakeholders, headlined by its wish to take the championship to the USA in 2026. Earlier this month the championship revealed it has a contract in place to achieve its goal of hosting a round in North America through an event in Tennessee next year, subject to approval by the FIA and the USA’s ASN.

It has also made progress in delivering more data and team radio to its television broadcast to help improve the storytelling of rallies through its ‘command centre’, which is expected to unveil further developments at Rally Portugal next month.

Now the WRC is focusing on improving its service park experience with proposals currently being evaluated by the board.

Last May the championship stated that “WRC Promoter will aim to increase attendance at WRC events through developing the on-site fan experience”, which followed a push from the FIA last year to allow event organisers more freedom when it comes to organising event service parks.

Details regarding the exact changes to infrastructure for this season remain unclear at this stage, but they will be focused on improving the experience for spectators.

“We are ticking things off and Rally USA was a pinnacle part of that and things like the data centre,” said WRC event director Simon Larkin. “The service park is our next target and we have some internal proposals for our board at the moment and we start to see those changes in the second half of the season.

“There will be a consistent approach to infrastructure, promotion and activations in the service park.

“We have already said it will be x number of events in Europe this year stepping through to all events next year. This is about WRC Promoter investing into the event experience.”

There are also plans to save teams money with the implementation of universal service park structures for long-haul events. It is understood this will come into force at this year’s season finale in Saudi Arabia, with the roll-out expected to continue in 2026.

“Next year it will be for [long haul] and that includes the single supplier of structures which we tested at the Central European Rally last year, and that is rolling out toward the end of this year and then with consistency for next year,” Larkin added.

“This is part of the expansion of the calendar and the reason to have a single supplier is the teams can spend far less in investing in a second set of sea freight if they have to spend half as much.”