The 2025 World Rally Championship (WRC) series is set to rev-off today with many drivers hoping to put their best foot forward in the various circuits and categories.
The series starts off with the four-day Rallye Monte Carlo in France before the second leg heads to Sweden on February 13-16.
After Rally Sweden, the third championship of the 14-legged circuit, the Safari Rally, will be staged in Kenya- in Nairobi and Naivasha- on March 20-23.
Already, Kenyan speedsters are shaping up for the iconic rally which is also the most watched leg of the global competition, making it one of the best sporting platforms to market the country to the outside world after the annual Magical Kenya Open golf championship.
The other goal of the WRC Safari Rally is to increase the number of African participants in the sport and create a platform for them to compete with the best in the globe.
Local drivers expected to make their intentions known in the Safari rally this season include double African Rally Championship (ARC) champion Karan Patel and the Kenya National Rally Championship (KNRC) winner Jasmeet ‘Iceman’ Chana.
Others in the mix are Eric Bengi, the legendary Carl Tundo, Baldev Charger, among others.
Chana has already jumped ship from his regular Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 10 machine to his current state-of-the-art Ford Fiesta R5 which he hopes will do him justice on the rough terrains of the unforgiving Naivasha course.
He is already launching several test drives as he hopes to perfectly gel with his co-driver ahead of the Safari.
While reflecting on his 2025 WRC Safari dream, Chana said:
“We’ve been trying to master the new car, even though there were very few rallies locally last season. The last event we did was in Arusha, and it was all about learning the vehicle even though we didn’t finish. We also did one event in Nanyuki and everything is coming up nicely.”
This year’s Safari Rally is iconic in that it will also double up Kenya’s round of the ARC as well as the opening leg of the six-legged KNRC.
Equator Rally has previously served as Kenya’s round of the ARC series, but became defunct when Safari was relegated from the ARC status in 2003.
With Safari regaining its WRC status in 2020, Kenya revived the Equator Rally to fill the void left behind by the fabled African rally-sport fixture.
This year’s ARC series will also feature other prestigious African fixtures; among them Rally Tanzania, Pearl of Africa Uganda Rally (POAUR), and Rwanda Mountain Gorilla Rally (RMGR).
The Rallye International du Burundi is back on the continental calendar for the third year running.
The WRC calendar 2025 will feature all-new stops in Spain, Paraguay, and Saudi Arabia, highlighting a spectacular 14-round series.
