After a six-week break, the World Rally Championship finally returns for round three of its global adventure, as the series embarks on its first gravel rally of the year on Safari Rally Kenya.
What was already one of the toughest events on the calendar has been made even more challenging by the return of the Safari to its traditional spring calendar slot. That puts it right into Kenya’s heaviest rainy season, and could be the catalyst for plenty of drama on the stages this weekend.
Safari Rally Kenya promises an Easter weekend of epic entertainment, and here’s everything you need to know.
Rally Safari Kenya Entry List
Total 29 crews
9 Rally1 crews
14 Rally2 crews (13 WRC2)
1 Rally3 crew (1 WRC3)
5 Group N crews
Jourdan Serderidis increases M-Sport's lineup to three cars in Kenya
Rally1
The top class field remains at nine cars for the second consecutive rally, but there’s one new face in the field compared to last time out in Sweden.
That face belongs to Greek privateer Jourdan Serderidis, who has reversed his decision to retire from the WRC’s top level after last year’s Acropolis Rally Greece and returns to the seat of an M-Sport Ford Puma this weekend.
He’ll join M-Sport regulars Adrien Fourmaux, fresh from his first WRC podium in Sweden, and Grégoire Munster in the Cumbrian squad’s three-car line-up.
After winning the opening two WRC events of 2024, Hyundai enters an identical line-up to the last event in Sweden, with points-leader Thierry Neuville and 2019 world champion Ott Tänak again joined by Esapekka Lappi, who’ll be on the hunt for back-to-back WRC victories.
Defending manufacturers’ champions Toyota will also field an unchanged squad, with reigning WRC champion Kalle Rovanperä making his second start of the year, alongside full-season duo Elfyn Evans and Takamoto Katsuta.
Kajetan Kajetanowicz has won the last two editions of Safari Rally Kenya in WRC2 and starts his 2024 season here
WRC2
Five brands are represented across the 14 Rally2 crews in Kenya, in what should be a hotly contested battle for supremacy.
Rally Sweden WRC2 winner and joint-series points leader Oliver Solberg returns to Kenya in his Toksport Škoda Fabia RS, but this time will score WRC2 points, as will his team-mate Gus Greensmith, who will make his first start of the season on the Safari.
Defending Keyna class-winner Kajetan Kajetanowicz also makes his first start of the year in the latest generation Fabia, as does compatriot Daniel Chwist.
Frenchman and Hyundai customer Nicolas Ciamin heads the South Korean brand’s charge in Kenya, while Charles Munster, brother of Rally1 driver Grégoire, makes his WRC2 debut behind the wheel of another i20 N Rally2.
Junior WRC regular Diego Domínguez Jr. joins the WRC2 field in the sole Citroën C3 entered, while a host of African rallying stars will test themselves against the WRC2 regulars, including Kenya’s Carl Tundo in his Ford Fiesta R5, and Tanzania’s Yasin Nasser, who makes his WRC debut behind the wheel of a Fiesta Rally2.
Hamza Anwar was a regular competitor in the Junior WRC last year
WRC3
Last year’s Junior African Rally champion Hamza Anwar is the sole WRC3 entrant, and the Kenyan will start his home WRC event for the fourth consecutive year driving a Ford Fiesta Rally3.
Safari Rally Kenya Itinerary
This year’s Safari Rally Kenya will cover 229 competitive miles (368 km), the longest edition since it returned to the WRC calendar in 2021.
The first of the rally’s 19 stages takes place on Thursday afternoon, with the Kasarani superspecial pitting drivers against each other across the jumps and bumps of this epic opening test just outside Kenya’s capital city of Nairobi.
Friday is the event’s first full day and will take the crews away from the service park to the rough roads around Lake Naivasha. The morning loop consists of three stages totaling 40 miles (64 km), repeated in the afternoon following a lunchtime service.
Saturday is the rally’s longest day, featuring six stages including the mammoth 22-mile (36 km) Sleeping Warrior test. After 100 miles (161 km) of grueling Saturday action, the first points of the weekend will be provisionally awarded.
Super Sunday comprises 46 miles (74 km) of action across six stages on the roads around Lake Elmenteita, with only a short 15-minute service to work on the cars after the third test of the day, Hell’s Gate. The rally concludes with the second running of the 7-mile (11 km) Hell’s Gate stage, which serves as the powerstage.
