The Safari Rally is famend as essentially the most gruelling occasion on the WRC schedule testing drivers and groups to absolutely the restrict.
The occasion returned to the WRC calendar in 2021 after a 19-year hiatus however in a a lot shorter format. This yr’s version, operated by a brand new Kenyan organiser, can be contested over 4 days with crews overlaying 367.76 kilometres of timed phases.
Up to now, the occasion was considered a marathon rally and when it adopted a particular stage format from 1996-2002, it featured 1000km of aggressive assessments.
Talking at Thursday’s ceremonial begin for the 2024 version, President Ruto outlined his needs for the occasion to be prolonged sooner or later.
“The Safari Rally runs for 4 days however we wish to revert to the previous custom when it featured longer distances. I direct our Sports activities Cupboard Secretary Ababu Namwamba to start out participating the FIA and the Promoter on prospects of a for much longer model of Safari,” stated President Ruto.
There’s a chance that Ruto’s needs might come to fruition, with the FIA and the WRC Promoter eager to discover the potential of extra versatile occasion schedules sooner or later. Introducing a wide range of endurance and dash rallies to the championship featured as a part of the FIA’s imaginative and prescient for the way forward for top-level rallying, which was launched final month.
Former WRC crew boss David Richards, a member of the FIA’s working group, which is behind a raft of proposals to enhance the WRC, advised media that the world motorsport governing physique is “open-minded” relating to the format of future occasions.
Takamoto Katsuta, Aaron Johnston, Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT Toyota GR Yaris Rally1
Picture by: Toyota Racing
“We try to offer organisers extra scope and freedom to develop the rally that works for them,” he advised media together with Motorsport.com earlier this month.
“With the assembly in Kenya, they wished to go exterior Nairobi and have a second base in Mombasa, for example, and do one thing of that nature.
“Let’s have a look at what they’re proposing and see if it matches in. We’re not saying sure, we’re not saying no, however we’re definitely saying let’s have a look at these concepts and see if it really works for the World Rally Championship.
“In the intervening time I feel we’ve been too prescriptive. We’ve created a method which everybody’s needed to work exhausting in the direction of, and I feel it isn’t essentially in one of the best curiosity of the championship going ahead.”
