The Safari Rally is renowned as the most gruelling event on the WRC schedule testing drivers and teams to the absolute limit.
The event returned to the WRC calendar in 2021 after a 19-year hiatus but in a much shorter format. This year’s edition, operated by a new Kenyan organiser, will be contested over four days with crews covering 367.76 kilometres of timed stages.
In the past, the event was regarded as a marathon rally and when it adopted a special stage format from 1996-2002, it featured 1000km of competitive tests.
Speaking at Thursday’s ceremonial start for the 2024 edition, President Ruto outlined his wishes for the event to be extended in the future.
“The Safari Rally runs for four days but we would like to revert to the old tradition when it featured longer distances. I direct our Sports Cabinet Secretary Ababu Namwamba to start engaging the FIA and the Promoter on possibilities of a much longer version of Safari,” said President Ruto.
There is a possibility that Ruto’s wishes could come to fruition, with the FIA and the WRC Promoter keen to explore the possibility of more flexible event schedules in the future. Introducing a variety of endurance and sprint rallies to the championship featured as part of the FIA’s vision for the future of top-level rallying, which was released last month.
Former WRC team boss David Richards, a member of the FIA’s working group, which is behind a raft of proposals to improve the WRC, told media that the world motorsport governing body is “open-minded” when it comes to the format of future events.
Source: Autosport