DAZN delves further into motorsport with WRC and IndyCar deals

DAZN has expanded its motorsport portfolio in Spain, adding rights to IndyCar and the World Rally Championship to its flagship MotoGP coverage from 2019.

Ex-Formula One world champion Fernando Alonso will compete in this year’s Indianapolis 500, the marquee race of the IndyCar season, as he did in 2017. This motivated DAZN to acquire the rights for 2019.

Alonso was tipped to make a permanent move to IndyCar last summer, but negotiations between McLaren, Honda and IndyCar over the creation of a new team – on which Alonso was expected to drive – broke down in the autumn. Alonso will drive a McLaren car with a Chevrolet engine in this year’s Indy 500.

Veteran rally driver Dani Sordo will be the main attraction for Spanish fans of the World Rally Championship, though the Spaniard is yet to better his third-placed finish overall in the 2009 WRC.

The last Spaniard to win the World Rally Championship was Carlos Sainz in 1992, though he also won the Dakar Rally in 2018, piquing the interest of Spanish rally fans once more.