WRC Speaks On Extending Safari Rally Beyond 2026
In 2019, the Safari Rally was confirmed to be making a comeback to the calendar for the first time since 2002.
Marvin Chege 
There is a real possibility that the annual Safari Rally could be on the World Rally Championship (WRC) calendar beyond 2026 with Kenya's initial five-year agreement set to lapse this year before it was extended by another year to 2026.
In 2019, the Safari Rally was confirmed to be making a comeback to the calendar for the first time since 2002. It was originally scheduled for 2020 but the COVID-19 pandemic meant that it was postponed to 2021.
WRC event director Simon Larkin, who spoke on Sunday, March 23 on the final day of the 2025 Safari Rally, revealed that WRC was keen on extending its partnership with Safari Rally Kenya and that negotiations on a new long-term contract with the country’s government are ongoing.
Larkin also stated that they had engaged with several top Kenyan companies to enhance their participation in the event.
Photo of WRC event director Simon Larkin. /BELFAST TELEGRAPH
“This is something we’ve been working on with President (William) Ruto and the Cabinet Secretary for a while now. We’ve had a fairly long commitment up until now and we have a contract for 2026.
“For sure there’s no doubt about that (extension) but we have a history with Safari Rally Kenya of making sure that we have a renewal early. We see a long-term commitment here in Kenya,” Larkin said as first reported by the Safari Rally X account.
The Event Director revealed that negotiations with Kenya to renew the contract with Safari Rally started after last year’s edition, the fourth since it returned to the WRC in 2021 after a 19-year absence.
Larkin echoed President William Ruto’s sentiments during Thursday, March 20’s ceremonial flag-off of the 2025 WRC Safari Rally in Nairobi where the Head of State called for the privatisation of the event.
“We think it’s the best way for the event to grow. We think it’s the best way for the government to try to reduce its financial burden of the event. Because we hear it from some of the biggest companies here, that there is an absolute commitment for them to step up and invest more heavily in the event,” he added.
The WRC Promoter confirmed that he has already engaged existing local corporate partners to the Safari Rally including an integrated telecommunications service provider, a local bank and Kenya Airways among others, noting that “This is the future of the event and it's how we can commercialize it better.
"We think there’s a greater promotional opportunity in Kenya. We think that the already existing commercial partners can be better leveraged with the right commercial structure,” Larking explained.
He cited the telco, which has over 26 million subscribers in Kenya as an example of how deep the Safari Rally can penetrate the local market by enabling its content to be available on its platform.
Additionally, the Event Director noted, that the local bank has been a major partner for the Kenya National Rally Championship (KNRC) and the Safari Rally itself for years and the financial institution could play a greater role in the development of the historic event within the WRC. These and other interested firms can be approached to rejuvenate rallying and motorsport beyond Safari Rally.
“You know I think it’s a fair comment to say that the national championship has suffered dramatically and what we need to see is a better and more dynamic organisation running Safari Rally which means that there will be resources all year round and sponsorship agreements that can be done.
“So, that when we come, the boom of rallying in this country doesn’t just spike around the WRC event, it's year-round and that’s the sort of thing that commercial partners and a commercial organisation can do better than a government department,” he stated.
Beyond Kenya, Larkin highlighted that the WRC Safari Rally could be an important tool for regional integration across East Africa and beyond, something the Promoter is keen to pursue in the next contract. “I mean it was our most watched WRC event last year with over 150 million viewers. We just need to make sure that the event keeps evolving and growing," he added.
“We wanted it to have a better impact in Kenya but we also want to have a better impact not just in Eastern Africa but in Africa as a whole. It’s an opportunity that we see for Kenya to project itself in a sporting world in the region."
As part of pushing the Safari Rally as a regional event, Larkin will request President Ruto to invite the heads of state from neighbouring countries to Kenya next year and have them get a drive in a Rally 1 car during the shakedown.
“We want to use our sport as a way to also bring people together. We want the event to be a little bit better marketed across the borders because we want the event to stand on its own two feet by bringing new money from across the border into Kenya.
“And we know that there’s a huge number of Ugandans here for example, we know we can bring a lot more fans from Rwanda, then there is Tanzania where there are a lot of fans who do come. We think we can increase that number exponentially.”
This year's edition was won by Elfyn Evans of Toyota Gazoo Racing, extending Toyota's dominance in the Safari Rally despite the other podium places taken by defending champion Thierry Neuville and Ott Tanak, both of Hyundai.
