Gov’t keen on Safari Rally contract renewal with WRC

The 2026 World Rally Championship (WRC) Safari Rally is set for an action-packed return from March 12 to 15, with major changes designed to make the event more accessible and efficient.

Speaking on Friday while handing over a comprehensive project oversight report on Kenya’s preparedness to the Sports Cabinet Salim Mvurya in Nairobi, event CEO Charles Gacheru announced that the rally will now run from Thursday to Sunday only, dropping the traditional Wednesday activities.

As a result, the event has been fully condensed into Naivasha, with no Nairobi start this year.

“We have been mandated to run the rally from Thursday to Sunday only so we have lost Wednesday. So it was not possible to come to Nairobi, so we have condensed everything in Nakuru County,” Gacheru explained.

For the first time since its WRC return, the shakedown stage on Thursday morning will be open to the public and held in an easily reachable location next to Naivasha Prisons.

This is expected to draw large crowds, especially fans from urban areas who usually attend events at Kasarani.

“We expect our fans who normally come to Kasarani, those from Lakisama and Dandora, to come and join others from Naivasha, to join us on Thursday morning, next to the Naivasha Prisons, there will be a big pitch there where cars will be racing,” he added.

“They will get a very good opportunity to be close to the cars and watch them shakedown on Thursday morning. So for the first time the shakedown is being done in an area that is very accessible to people on foot, people coming on bodaboda, people coming on matatu.

“So, we plead to those who love Safari Rally to come on Thursday morning. The rest of the rally will continue on Friday, Saturday and Sunday.”

The event will wrap up on Sunday with the Power Stage at Hell’s Gate National Park, where more than 100,000 spectators gathered last year.

“Sunday we’re at Hell’s Gate for the final stage… we again welcome Kenyans at Hell’s Gate, we plead heed to the traffic rules, to avoid traffic on Sunday,” he added.

“In terms of preparedness, the WRC secretariat is ready, we have met all FIA and WRC promoter deadlines, all documents are in, all road books have been checked and the event has been given a visa by the Kenya Motorsport Federation, and the next visa that will come through is the visa from the FIA.”

Sports CS Salim Mvurya revealed that Kenya was confident of having the contract for the event extended with another five years.

“We are ready to host this event again in Kenya. We have complied with all the technical conditions and we are confident we will host another memorable rallying event as we seek to extend the contract for five years,” he said.

He highlighted the rally’s wider importance as an economic and promotional driver for the country.

“Because Safari Rally is not just a motor sporting event, it is a function that is going to inspire the economic unit of our country and the entire ecosystem. Shortly there will be a meeting of key government agencies, to brief them on the preparations but also to find opportunities of engagements. It is also going to be very good marketing for Kenya and that is why we want broader agencies including the private sector.”

As part of growing motorsport in Kenya, the CS directed the WRC team to start scouting and mapping for routes in other counties across Kenya as part of taking the event to other regions.

“We need to extend this sport to other parts of the country and I am tasking the team responsible to do extensive mapping for routes in other counties where this event can take place,” he said.