Saudi Arabia's motorsport calendar is easy to underestimate if you only look at the country's biggest international events.
Beyond Formula 1 and Dakar, there is a growing domestic calendar covering drift, time attack, autocross, karting, hill climb, rolling drag and Baja rallying, with events taking place across several regions of the Kingdom.
The Saudi Automobile and Motorcycle Federation lists all of those disciplines within its current national championship programme, giving Saudi Arabia one of the more varied local motorsport calendars in the Gulf. Saudi Automobile & Motorcycle Federation
With the cooler part of the year beginning, October through December brings another run of competition.
GulfShows tracks the latest dates and event information on the Saudi Arabia car and motorsport events calendar.
Next Motorsport Events in Saudi Arabia
The next events currently listed on GulfShows include:
- 1–3 October, 2026 - Time Attack
- 8 October, 2026 - Saudi Toyota Drift Championship, Round 1
- 9 October, 2026 - Saudi Toyota Autocross Championship, Round 1
- 15–17 October, 2026 - Time Attack
- 22 October, 2026 - Saudi Toyota Drift Championship, Round 2
- 23 October, 2026 - Saudi Toyota Autocross Championship, Round 2
- 11-14 November, 2026 - Rally Saudi Arabia | MERC
- 20 November, 2026 - Saudi Toyota Karting Championship, Round 1
- 26 November, 2026 - Saudi Toyota Drift Championship, Round 3
- 27 November, 2026 - Saudi Toyota Autocross Championship, Round 3
The current GulfShows calendar also extends into December with Baja and rolling-drag events.
October: drift, autocross and time attack
October is particularly busy for Saudi Arabia's shorter-format motorsport disciplines.
The Saudi Toyota Drift Championship is currently scheduled to begin its autumn programme on 8 October, with further rounds later in October and November. Alongside it, the Saudi Toyota Autocross Championship follows a similar three-round structure.
These are very different forms of competition.
Drifting is judged around car control, line, angle and execution rather than simply the stopwatch. Autocross turns the focus back towards outright time, with competitors navigating relatively compact technical courses.
Time Attack sits somewhere else again: drivers compete directly against the clock, attempting to produce the fastest individual lap or run rather than racing wheel-to-wheel.
That variety is important because Saudi motorsport is not built around a single championship format. SAMF's current programme lists national championships for drift, autocross, time attack, hill climb, karting, Baja and rolling drag, alongside international rally competition. Saudi Automobile & Motorcycle Federation
For spectators looking beyond the largest headline events, October is therefore one of the more interesting months on the local calendar.
Saudi drifting has a strong local identity
Drifting has particular cultural relevance in Saudi Arabia, and the organised competition scene has increasingly developed around sanctioned venues and events.
SAMF has also introduced the Hajwala initiative, designed to bring performance and exhibition driving into controlled environments rather than public roads. The federation describes it as an organised platform for professionals, amateurs and content creators, with dedicated safety standards and purpose-built spaces. hajwala.samf.gov.sa
That makes drifting an interesting area to watch as GulfShows expands its coverage in Saudi Arabia.
It is not only a competition category. It sits at the intersection of motorsport, modified-car culture and a large enthusiast community - exactly the kind of activity that often exists outside the country's major international race weekends.
Rally Saudi Arabia continues - but not as WRC in 2026
One significant change has affected the November calendar.
Rally Saudi Arabia will no longer form part of the 2026 FIA World Rally Championship.
The FIA and WRC Promoter confirmed on 17 September that the WRC component would not proceed because continuing regional uncertainty was affecting logistical arrangements. The 2026 WRC season will instead conclude with Rally Italia Sardegna in October. WRC.com
However, that does not mean Rally Saudi Arabia itself has disappeared.
The Saudi event remains on the FIA Middle East Rally Championship calendar, with the FIA listing the Saudi round for 12–15 November 2026. FIA
That distinction matters for anyone following the event: Saudi Arabia will still host competitive international rallying in November, but the Rally1 WRC field will not be coming in 2026.
The FIA and Saudi organisers have both indicated that attention is now turning towards a potential WRC return in 2027.
Karting joins the calendar in November
Saudi Arabia's national karting programme also returns later in the year.
The Saudi Toyota Karting Championship - Round 1 is officially listed by SAMF for 20 November 2026. Registration runs from 1 October through the event date. Saudi Automobile & Motorcycle Federation
Karting is worth including in the wider Saudi motorsport picture because it represents the entry level of circuit competition rather than simply another spectator event.
SAMF itself describes karting as one of the fundamental routes into single-seater motorsport. Saudi Automobile & Motorcycle Federation
That development pathway is becoming increasingly relevant as Saudi Arabia invests more heavily in creating local drivers rather than simply hosting international championships.
December turns back towards the desert
The final part of the year brings the Saudi calendar back to one of the country's natural motorsport strengths: cross-country rallying.
Saudi Arabia's domestic programme includes a dedicated Toyota Baja Championship, with rounds associated with regions including Hail, Qassim and Jeddah. Saudi Automobile & Motorcycle Federation
GulfShows currently lists Qassim Toyota Baja from early December.
There has been some uncertainty around the exact Qassim date during 2026. The event was postponed from its original May date, while SAMF's event calendar subsequently listed 2 December. More recent reports in September have referred to a 2–5 December running. موقع نبض
For that reason, anyone planning to attend should check the current event page and official organiser information before booking travel.
That uncertainty is also a good example of why GulfShows continuously rechecks event sources rather than treating an initial calendar announcement as final.
Baja racing is particularly important to Saudi motorsport
Of all the disciplines on the domestic calendar, desert rallying arguably has the strongest connection to Saudi Arabia itself.
The country's scale, terrain and established Dakar presence give local drivers an environment in which rally-raid competition can develop naturally.
SAMF's Saudi Next Gen programme now provides a structured pathway for young Saudi rally talent, with navigation training, practical desert driving, stage simulations and technical preparation based around Dakar-style competition. The federation says 20 drivers and co-drivers have already been trained through the programme, with further participants preparing for Dakar 2027. nextgen.samf.gov.sa
This makes events such as the Qassim and Jeddah Baja rounds more than isolated races. They form part of a broader rally-raid ecosystem ranging from domestic competition to Dakar-level participation.
For GulfShows, this is an area worth following closely as the Saudi event database grows.
Rolling drag adds another discipline in December
The Saudi calendar also includes the Saudi Rolling Drag Championship, currently listed for December.
Rolling drag differs from conventional standing-start drag racing because cars begin from a controlled rolling speed before accelerating through the competition distance.
It is another example of how broad the Saudi national motorsport programme has become.
Rather than organising everything around traditional circuit racing, the calendar includes formats familiar to local enthusiast and modified-car communities alongside established rally and karting disciplines. SAMF currently lists rolling drag among its official national championships.
Motorsport is spread across Saudi Arabia
Another difference between Saudi Arabia and markets such as Bahrain or Qatar is geography.
There is no single venue that defines the whole national motorsport scene.
Events take place across regions including:
Riyadh - home to several motorsport facilities and a large enthusiast community.
Jeddah - known internationally for the Jeddah Corniche Circuit but also connected with national-level racing and rally events.
Qassim - increasingly associated with Baja and desert competition.
Hail - one of Saudi Arabia's established rally centres and host of the Hail International Baja.
Eastern Province - home to additional motorsport venues and driving activity.
SAMF itself points competitors towards circuits and training facilities in Riyadh, the Eastern Province and Jeddah. Saudi Automobile & Motorcycle Federation
For visitors, that means searching only for “motorsport in Riyadh” or “car events in Jeddah” will show only one part of the Saudi calendar.
Saudi motorsport is much bigger than the international headlines
Formula 1 and Dakar naturally attract most of the global attention, but the national programme tells a different story.
On consecutive weekends, Saudi competitors can move between:
drift → autocross → time attack → karting → rally → Baja → rolling drag
That is what makes the local calendar interesting.
For someone already following Saudi car culture, the domestic championships provide a much closer look at the drivers, teams and communities operating inside the country throughout the year.
And for GulfShows, those events are just as important as international race weekends. A complete regional event calendar should help people find the 100-car local competition as easily as the event watched by millions around the world.
Which Saudi Arabia motorsport events are worth following?
For desert motorsport, the Baja championship rounds are the obvious place to start. They fit the country's terrain and connect naturally with Saudi Arabia's wider rally-raid ecosystem.
For modified-car and performance culture, the Saudi Toyota Drift Championship and organised Hajwala programme are particularly interesting.
Time Attack and Autocross provide more accessible forms of competitive driving, while the Saudi Toyota Karting Championship represents the opposite end of the development ladder: a route into higher levels of racing.
And in November, Rally Saudi Arabia's FIA Middle East Rally Championship round will remain an important international event even without WRC status in 2026.
