WRC Safari Rally plans are way ahead of time
Preparations for the 2022 WRC Safari Rally are at an advanced stage with leading FIA officials visiting the country to inspect the stages.
The team led by Ian Campbell and Joao Passos was escorted to the Safari Rally Stages in Naivasha to look at the preparations made by the Kenyan Team.
Campbell is the FIA Steward and the current Clerk of the Course for Rally GB. Kenyan Team was led by Gurvir Bhabra, the Clerk of the Course for the WRC Safari Rally.
‘’They were here to have a look at the stages. The officials suggested minor charges which we’ve taken aboard. They did a report to Phineas Kimathi on the state of the stages and came up with an action list to work with over the next few weeks,’’ Bhabra told Nation Sport.
The event will take place in June in the Great Rift Valley, around Lake Naivasha and Elmentaita with the Service Park based at the Kenya Wildlife Services (KWS), Naivasha on the main Nairobi to Nakuru Road.
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A total of 19 Competitive Stages will be run during the WRC Safari Rally. The total distance will be 363.58kms of which 184.21kms will be of the Competitive distance.
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The stages will start with the Shakedown at Loldia (5.41kms). Majority of the stages will be done twice.
The rest of the stages are SS1 Kasarani (4.84), SS 2/5 Loldia(19.17), SS 3/6 Geothermal (11.68), SS 4/7 Kedong (31.26), SS 8/11 Soysambu (29.32), SS 9/12 Elmenteita (15.08), SS 10/13 Sleeping Warrior (23.05), SS 14/17 Oserian (17.81), SS 15/18 Narasha (21.47) and SS 16/19 Hells Gate (10.53).
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Administrative checks in the WRC Safari Rally will begin on June 19 in Naivasha and the official reconnaissance of the route of the event will start on June 20.
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The Ndulele Conservancy off the Moi North Lake Road will be the venue for the Shakedown from 1001hrs. The challenging 5.4kms of Kenyan rally tracks will see the first action of a WRC Rally1 car, in all its raw glory.
This will be the first time the latest Hybrid-equipped Rally1 car will set foot on the African continent.
Undulating tracks with varying surfaces through a wooded landscape will allow the crews to sample in minor what will be the 2022 WRC Safari Rally and their first feel of the spectacular challenge ahead
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The Safari Rally was first held in 1953, as the East African Coronation Safari in Kenya, Uganda and Tanganyika, as a celebration of the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II.
In 1960 it was renamed the East African Safari Rally and kept that name until 1974, when it became the Kenya Safari Rally.
It returned to the World Rally Championship (WRC) in 2021 after a 19-year hiatus. The older version of the Safari Rally was notorious for being the most difficult rally in the World championship. BY DAILY NATION
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