WRC Safari Rally Kenya set to increase to 2025 amid main adjustments

Safari Rally Kenya is set to add more competitive kilometers next year, although the general changes to World Rally Championship event formats are likely to be “evolutionary” rather than “revolutionary”.

Changes to event formats in 2024 have been the subject of discussion with the FIA ​​and the WRC promoter, who are keen to provide rally organizers greater flexibility in relation to itinerary schedules within the scheduled Thursday to Sunday framework.

This year, Sardinia tested a more compact “48 hour” sprint concept, while there have been discussions that Kenya has ambitions to expand its event into a more endurance style concept.

While significant changes are considered unlikely for 2025, the WRC promoter has indicated that the Safari Rally will be longer with an additional stage on Thursday to increase its distance from the 367.76 km included in this year’s event.

WRC event director Simon Larkin said, “There is no decision to have a certain style of event. A WRC event can be quite complex, we don’t want there to be sprints and endurance, we don’t want to have different types.” If you want to organize events, there will just be a little more freedom.

“I know for example that Kenya is going to run over 350 kilometres, that’s a lot of kilometers which is great, and it’s a result of the development of that event.

“There’s going to be another forum on Thursday when we come back from Nairobi. We’re trying to encourage shows with different personalities, but not shows with fixed titles.”

Larkin also revealed that Sardinia would once again build its program around the revised 266.12 km compact itinerary it had run this year.

“I think Italy are looking to do a modified format again like they did this year,” he said. “That was an exciting event, it was a little more concise, we will see some different events but they will not be revolutionary but evolutionary.”

The FIA ​​is keen to diversify event formats but says it is important to ensure the championship has a balanced calendar.

FIA road sport director Andrew Wheatley said, “I don’t think many organizers will go too far from where we are because the principle of what we’re doing at the moment is suitable for most people.”

“There will be some organizers who want to do something different. Sardinia was a good example of trying to do a slightly different program.

“We don’t want all events to go to sprint format and none of the events to go to endurance format, we want to have a balance between the two.”