Organisers begin early plans for 2022 Safari Rally

Sebastien Ogier (left) and his navigator Julien Ingrassia celebrate their win during the award ceremony of the WRC Safari Rally in Naivasha on June 27,2021

Photo credit: Cheboite Kigen | Nation Media Group

What you need to know:

  • The Safari Rally, which successfully returned to the WRC calendar last year after a 19-year hiatus, will be held on June 23-26 in Nairobi and Naivasha
  • Already, route organisers Nazir Yakub and Anwar Sidi are on location in Naivasha to review possible changes , offer expert views and ensure the Safari can be held even at short notice
  • The season kicks off in January with Rallye Monte-Carlo in the French Alps, which will be based solely in Monaco for the first time since 2006

The FIA World Rally Championship (WRC) appears to have put the effects of Covid-19 behind it after the pandemic disrupted its calendar for the last 18 months and is planning ahead.  

Rally Japan, which was supposed to be the season-ending round in 2021, was put off because of coronavirus. Monza, Italy, will conclude the season next month.

Defending world champion Frenchman Sebastien Ogier of Toyota tops the standings with 204 points, he leads British teammate Elyfn Evans by 13 points while Belgian Thierry Neuville of Hyundai is third on 159 points.

Neuville won the last Sunday’s Spain Rally and ruined Ogier’s chance of taking his eighth title.

The FIA announced its 2022 calendar last Friday. The Safari Rally, which successfully returned to the WRC calendar last year after a 19-year hiatus, will be held on June 23-26 in Nairobi and Naivasha.  

Already, route organisers Nazir Yakub and Anwar Sidi are on location in Naivasha to review possible changes , offer expert views and ensure the Safari can be held even at short notice.

There will be big and far-reaching changes in the sport’s history in next year’s calendar as the WRC enters a more sustainable age.

Top-tier hybrid Rally1 cars will blend 100kW electric motors and the existing combustion engine, while a hydrocarbon-based fossil-free fuel will be 100 percent sustainable in one of the biggest  changes in the sport since 1977.

All the three manufacturers — Ford, Toyota and Hyundai — have been testing the new machines. Due to the high-profile and visibility of the WRC as a global brand with millions of followers worldwide, it will help to drive the campaign against global warming .

During the unveiling of the calendar by the FIA World Motor Sport Council in Paris the commercial rights holder of the championship,  WRC Promoter,  managing director Jona Siebel said the mix of classic fixtures and new events will provide a mouth-watering schedule.  

For the first time in decades, the championship will represent real geographical locales around the world. The iconic Safari Rally, New Zealand, and Japan will bring together four continents — Europe, Africa, Asia and Australasia — as the pandemic eases and WRC Promoter rebuilds towards its target of a 50-50 split between European and long-haul rounds.

The  New Zealand Rally will be held near Auckland. It will be featuring for the first time since 2012 on September 20-October 2 as the WRC celebrates its 50th season. 

Croatia Rally was retained in an expanded 13-round schedule after the central European country hosted a widely praised debut in April.  

The season kicks off in January with Rallye Monte-Carlo in the French Alps, which will be based solely in Monaco for the first time since 2006.  

It will be followed by the spectacular snow and ice of Rally Sweden, the series’ only pure winter fixture, which also has a new home as it relocates north to the east coast city of Umeå. 

Croatia is the opening pure asphalt encounter and will again be based in Zagreb in late April.   

The gravel fixtures begin in Portugal in late May, the first of a string of grueling hot weather dirt road rounds. It is followed in June by Italy and Kenya’s Safari Rally — one of global motorsport’s legendary contests.  

Estonia marks the midpoint of the championship, and Finland precedes round nine in mid-August at a venue to be confirmed. Greece, another championship stalwart, returns in September after its successful WRC comeback last month, before the final gravel encounter in New Zealand. 

The closing two rounds take place on asphalt. Spain’s late October fixture leads into the finale in Japan.