WRC Promoter, who oversees the commercial rights for the World and European Rally Championships, has been sold to Cosmobilis and Park Square Capital. The FIA confirmed the deal on Friday, with president Mohammed Ben Sulayem calling it “truly the deal of the century for rallying”.

A joint venture run by Red Bull and KW25, WRC Promoter GmbH was put up for sale in August 2024 with an asking price of approximately $550 million. It had held the media rights to the WRC since 2013 before acquiring the same for the ERC in 2022. WRC Promoter was also the promoter for the World and European Rallycross Championships.

Cosmobilis Group is a French automotive conglomerate that operates several services in the industry. For example, its subsidiary BYmyCAR and Elite Auto are used car dealers while HCI specializes in importing vehicles and UCAR for rental. Cosmobilis plans to offer its “wider industrial ecosystem” for the WRC and ERC. Park Square Capital is a British private creditor investor that covers senior debt and direct loans in Europe and the United States.

The new owners outlined a three-pillar philosophy for the series: “enhancing the delivery of the events” to improve accessibility, “building on WRC and ERC as global brands”, and “strengthening sustainability goals”.

Éric Boullier, the former team principal of Lotus F1 and racing director for McLaren, was named CEO of WRC Promoter by the new leadership.

“I take on this challenge with enthusiasm and determination, but also with humility and a strong sense of responsibility to make these exceptional championships even more compelling,” said Boullier. “Alongside the FIA and our partners, we want to make every round a spectacular event, designed to thrill fans around the world.

“The goal is clear: to establish the WRC and ERC as world-class global brands and a driver of sustainable growth, closely aligned with today’s technological and environmental challenges.”

WRC Promoter is the third entity to hold the commercial rights for the entire championship. Bernie Ecclestone’s International Sportsworld Communicators was the first, being responsible for all non-F1 FIA series including WRC. However, the latter prompted a European Commission investigation into whether the FIA had monopolized international racing TV deals. ISC was sold to David Richards of Prodrive in 2000.

North One took over the media rights before buying ISC in 2007, then became the WRC’s promoter in 2010. Just a year into the latter contract, NO would also go belly-up and be bought by Convers Sports Initiative. Eurosport briefly held the rights in 2012 before WRC Promoter came in.

Paul Haines goes into detail on WRC’s promotion since 1999 in this piece for DirtFish.

The new deal comes in tandem with the ongoing Rally Finland, the tenth round of the 2026 WRC calendar.

Featured image credit: Jaanus Ree / Red Bull Content Pool