The WRC heads to Kenya for its breathtaking Safari Rally to continue an epic start to the 2024 season.
Last time out, Esapekka Lappi ended a six-and-a-half-year victory drought by winning the attritional Rally Sweden after Kalle Rovanpera, Ott Tanak and Takamoto Katsuta all found the snowbanks.
The crashes handed a sizeable lead to Lappi, who won the weekend by 29.6 seconds for his first victory since Rally Finland in 2017. And such were the effects of the changeable conditions that WRC2’s Oliver Solberg ended Friday in third overall before eventually finishing fifth.
It followed the season-opening Monte Carlo Rally where Thierry Neuville began his championship hunt with a perfect rally of 30 points.
The Hyundai driver finished fourth in Sweden meaning he heads into Kenya leading the championship by three points with Toyota’s Elfyn Evans in second after standing on the podium in both rounds this year. In quirk of the new points system, Evans left the rally scoring five more points than rally winner Lappi.
Neither Neuville nor Evans have won in Kenya though, which returned to the WRC calendar in 2021 after last appearing in 2002. However, their chances of victory have somewhat increased as Sebastien Ogier, who has won two of the past three Safari Rallies, will not be in Kenya this weekend due to the eight-time world champion only competing in WRC’s 2024 campaign part-time.
His Toyota entry will instead be going to the reigning two-time world champion Rovanpera, who is also competing in this year’s WRC part-time, but will be present in Kenya which is a rally he won in 2022.
M-Sport Ford will expand to three Puma entries led by Adrien Fourmaux, who claimed his first career WRC top tier podium with third in Sweden. The Frenchman will be joined by regular team-mate Gregoire Munster and privateer Jourdan Serderidis, who is making his first Rally1 start of the year.
Snorkels will also be making a return in Kenya. A snorkel is a device attached to the front of a rally car and helps them to navigate through sections of tricky terrain by preventing water and dust from entering the engine.
Watch: Safari Rally Kenya Trailer
When is the Safari Rally?
• Date: 28-31 March
• Start time: 9:26am GMT/12:26pm local time on Thursday 28 March
The Safari Rally starts at 9:26am in the United Kingdom and 12:26pm local time on Thursday 28 March. However, the first stage does not begin until later that day at 11:05am in the UK and 2:05pm local time once the ceremonial start has finished.
Before the opening stage of the Safari Rally is also the shakedown at 7am in the UK - 10am local time - on Wednesday 27 March, where drivers test various set-ups on their cars ahead of the weekend.
This Sunday morning will also see the UK clocks change with the start of British Summer Time. This means on the rally’s final day, the time difference between Great Britain and Kenya will be two hours and not three.
|
Date |
Leg |
Leg total |
Start time |
|
Wednesday 27 March |
Shakedown |
3.36 miles |
7am GMT/10am local time |
|
Thursday 28 March |
Ceremonial start |
N/A |
9:26am GMT/12:26pm local time |
|
Thursday 28 March |
Stage 1 |
2.78 miles |
11:05am GMT/2:05pm local time |
|
Friday 29 March |
Stage 2 - Stage 4 |
39.64 miles |
5:15am GMT/8:15am local time |
|
Friday 29 March |
Stage 5 - Stage 7 |
39.64 miles |
10:48am GMT/1:48pm local time |
|
Saturday 30 March |
Stage 8 - Stage 10 |
50.01 miles |
5am GMT/8am local time |
|
Saturday 30 March |
Stage 11 - Stage 13 |
50.01 miles |
11:34am GMT/2:34pm local time |
|
Sunday 31 March |
Stage 14 - Stage 16 |
23.11 miles |
5am BST/7am local time |
|
Sunday 31 March |
Stage 17 - Stage 18 |
16.57 miles |
9:20am BST/11:20am local time |
|
Sunday 31 March |
Stage 19 (Power Stage) |
6.54 miles |
12:15pm BST/2:15pm local time |
How can I watch the WRC?
TNT Sports (formerly known as BT Sport) will live televise every round of the 2024 season as it holds the WRC broadcasting rights in the UK.
This means the WRC is not free-to-air as a subscription is needed to watch TNT. New customers can buy TNT for £18 per month and that deal includes all four sport channels and Discovery+.
Discovery+ is TNT’s live streaming platform meaning rally’s top category can be watched via a mobile or tablet device, as well as a console in 2024.
However, fans can also watch the WRC on Rally.tv, which has rights to broadcast the European Rally Championship and World Rallycross Championship as well. Rally.tv can be purchased via two deals: a yearly pass for £199.99 or a monthly pass for £12.99.
How can I watch the Safari Rally?
TNT Sports will begin its coverage at 7am on Wednesday for shakedown before live broadcasting every official stage of this weekend’s Safari Rally.
Its Thursday coverage will start at 11am - meaning the ceremonial start will not be broadcast - before early starts commence the action on Friday, Saturday and Sunday, where TNT Sports will be on and off with its programmes depending on each stage’s start time.
Rally.tv will also be on and off with its coverage of the Safari Rally, however it will still live broadcast every stage of the weekend including the ceremonial start as opposed to TNT.
|
Date |
Leg |
Channel |
Coverage from |
|
Wednesday 27 March |
Shakedown |
TNT Sports Extra 1 |
7am GMT |
|
Thursday 28 March |
Stage 1 |
TNT Sports 2 |
11am GMT |
|
Friday 29 March |
Stage 2 - Stage 4 |
TNT Sports 3 |
5am GMT |
|
Friday 29 March |
Stage 5 - Stage 7 |
TNT Sports 3 |
10:45am GMT |
|
Saturday 30 March |
Stage 8 - Stage 10 |
TNT Sports 4 |
4:45am GMT |
|
Saturday 30 March |
Stage 11 - Stage 13 |
TNT Sports Extra 2 |
11:30am GMT |
|
Saturday 30 March |
Stage 12 - Stage 13 |
TNT Sports 3 |
12:30pm GMT |
|
Sunday 31 March |
Stage 14 - Stage 15 |
TNT Sports 3 |
4:45am BST |
|
Sunday 31 March |
Stage 14 - Stage 16 |
TNT Sports Extra 3 |
3:45am BST |
|
Sunday 31 March |
Stage 17 - Stage 18 |
TNT Sports 3 |
9:15am BST |
|
Sunday 31 March |
Stage 19 (Power Stage) |
TNT Sports 3 |
12pm BST |
|
Date |
Leg |
Channel |
Coverage from |
|
Wednesday 27 March |
Shakedown |
Rally.tv |
7am GMT |
|
Thursday 28 March |
Ceremonial Start |
Rally.tv |
9am GMT |
|
Thursday 28 March |
Stage 1 |
Rally.tv |
11am GMT |
|
Friday 29 March |
Stage 2 - Stage 4 |
Rally.tv |
5am GMT |
|
Friday 29 March |
Stage 5 - Stage 7 |
Rally.tv |
10:45am GMT |
|
Saturday 30 March |
Stage 8 - Stage 10 |
Rally.tv |
4:45am GMT |
|
Saturday 30 March |
Stage 11 - Stage 13 |
Rally.tv |
11:30am GMT |
|
Sunday 31 March |
Stage 14 - Stage 16 |
Rally.tv |
4:45am BST |
|
Sunday 31 March |
Stage 17 - Stage 18 |
Rally.tv |
8:30am BST |
|
Sunday 31 March |
Stage 19 (Power Stage) |
Rally.tv |
11am BST |
When can I watch Safari Rally highlights?
Highlights for the Safari Rally are available via TNT Sports, who will air a 30-minute package on Friday, Saturday and Sunday night. Red Bull TV will also broadcast a highlights programme at 7pm GMT on Friday and Saturday night, plus 8pm BST on Sunday night.
Another WRC highlights programme will be available via ITV4, whose package will run for one hour on Tuesday 2 April at 10:10pm BST.
Daily highlights are also available via Autosport, while WRC’s official YouTube channel will also upload a shorter highlights reel soon after each day has finished.
|
Date |
Channel |
Time |
|
Friday 29 March |
Red Bull TV |
7pm GMT |
|
Friday 29 March |
TNT Sports 4 |
9:15pm GMT |
|
Friday 29 March |
TNT Sports 2 |
10:30pm GMT |
|
Friday 29 March |
TNT Sports 1 |
11:30pm GMT |
|
Saturday 30 March |
Red Bull TV |
7pm GMT |
|
Saturday 30 March |
TNT Sports 2 |
7:15pm GMT |
|
Saturday 30 March |
TNT Sports 1 |
11:15pm GMT |
|
Sunday 31 March |
TNT Sports 3 |
7:30pm BST |
|
Sunday 31 March |
Red Bull TV |
8pm BST |
|
Sunday 31 March |
TNT Sports 1 |
9:45pm BST |
|
Sunday 31 March |
TNT Sports 2 |
11:30pm BST |
|
Tuesday 2 April |
ITV4 |
10:10pm BST |
What is the route for the Safari Rally?
The Safari Rally consists of 19 special stages covering a total competitive distance of 221 miles on a gravel surface. An afternoon stage kicks off proceedings on Thursday with 2.78 miles of Kasarani, which is just on the outskirts of Kenya’s capital Nairobi and is the only session that day.
The rally then heads north-west on Friday morning for 11.91 miles of Loldia before heading to Geothermal (8.15 miles) and Kedong (19.57 miles) with the same loop happening that afternoon.
Saturday at the Rally Safari also features two identical loops of three stages which begins with Soysambu (18.22 miles) in the south of Kenya, before heading to Elmenteita (9.37 miles) and the Sleeping Warrior stage (22.42 miles).
That is a crucial part of the weekend because the end of Saturday is when the bulk of points are provisionally awarded. WRC introduced a new structure for 2024 which sees a sliding scale of 18-15-13-10-8-6-4-3-2-1 awarded at the end of Saturday, however a crew will only score those points if it finishes on the Sunday.
The tally for a perfect rally remains 30 because a sliding scale of 7-6-5-4-3-2-1 is then used for Sunday, with bonus points of 5-4-3-2-1 on offer in the weekend closing Power Stage.
So, another early start commences Sunday’s finale in Kenya which, again, features two identical loops of three stages. Action kicks off with 5.18 miles of Malewa, close to the banks of Lake Naivasha, before heading to Oserian (11.39 miles) and Hell’s Gate (6.54 miles) which is also the Power Stage.
Rally1 entry list for the Safari Rally
|
Team |
Driver |
Co-driver |
|
Hyundai |
Esapekka Lappi |
|
|
Ott Tanak |
||
|
Thierry Neuville |
||
|
Gregoire Munster |
||
|
Adrien Fourmaux |
||
|
Jourdan Serderidis |
Frederic Miclotte |
|
|
Toyota |
Takamoto Katsuta |
|
|
Elfyn Evans |
||
|
Kalle Rovanpera |
