The World Rally Drivers’ Alliance (WoRDA) has released a fresh statement following the drivers’ decision not to speak in English at stage ends during Safari Rally Kenya.
During Wednesday’s shakedown stage for the third round of the 2025 World Rally Championship season, Elfyn Evans and Thierry Neuville opted to answer stage-end questions in their native, non-English language, while some like Adrien Fourmaux and Takamoto Katsuta simply said nothing at all.
That’s because of Fourmaux’s €10,000 fine for using a swear word during a live TV interview at the end of Rally Sweden.
WoRDA – which was formed in the wake of said fine – has issued a new statement on Wednesday:
We all agree to keep rudeness at the microphone to a minimum. At the same time, it is necessary to maintain a certain freedom of expression and to keep emotions alive while drivers don’t need to be afraid of getting punished in any way,” it said.
We have asked the president of the FIA for some positive changes in the rules to help us achieve this goal.
¤ For the reasons explained in our statement, it is impossible for us to guarantee that we (drivers and co-drivers) will be able to follow these rules perfectly and systematically.
¤ This is why we – WoRDA members – are now taking the responsible decision to remain silent at the end of the interviews or to answer in our mother tongue.
In the own interest of our sport, such an action is unfortunately needed, and we apologize to all the rally fans, even though we know they support us in this.
