A rally across three countries in Europe headlines a 13-round calendar for the 2023 FIA World Rally Championship.

A new addition to the calendar, the Central Europe Rally, which will traverse Austria, Czech Republic, and Germany, will take place from October 26-29.

The European event is among several changes for next year’s calendar, which includes a visit to Mexico, while Chile returns to the schedule for the first time since the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Local rally fans will miss out in 2023, with discussions underway for Rally Australia to return in 2024, while Rally New Zealand, which was the scene of 2022 WRC winner Kalle Rovanpera’s championship triumph, has been omitted from the schedule.

The 2023 season will commence with the traditional opener at Rallye Monte-Carlo from January 19-22, before Rally Sweden takes place from February 9-12.

On its return to the calendar, Mexico will host Round 3 from March 16-19, before Croatia Rally takes place from April 20-23.

Round 5 will take place in Portugal from May 11-14, with Rally Italy scheduled for June 1-4.

The top-level rally category then heads to Africa for Safari Rally Kenya from June 22-25.

WRC returns to Europe for a trio of events, namely Rally Estonia from July 20-23, Rally Finland from August 3-6, and Rally Greece from September 7-10.

Rally Chile, which takes place from September 28-October 1 precedes the Central Europe Rally, before the 2023 season concludes with Rally Japan from November 16-19.

WRC Promoter Senior Director of Events Simon Larkin said organisers are pleased with the range and variety of events on the calendar.

“We were absolutely determined to get the WRC calendar back to where it was pre-Covid, with a good spread of events inside and outside Europe,” Larkin said.

“They will provide a great sporting challenge for the competitors, as well as providing the highest-profile events in each country.”

The calendar follows a shake-up of the Toyota Gazoo Racing and Hyundai Motorsport line-ups for 2023.