2021 Safari Rally Kicks off
2021 Safari Rally Kicks off
2021 Safari Rally Kicks off : The 2021 Kenya Safari rally kicked off on the 24th June 2021 at the Kenyatta International Conference (KICC) in the country’s capital Nairobi. This marks the safari rally’s return to the World Rally Championship calendar.
The safari rally was flagged off by the Kenyan president Uhuru Kenyatta at an event that had the rally cars assembled at the Kenyatta International Conference (KICC). The cars after being flagged off them were each driven to Moi International Sports centre kasarani.
At the Moi International Sports Centre Kasarani were displayed on a special stage and then charged for Naivasha town, which is the starting point for the rally today. The finish line for the rally is the foot of Mount Kenya on Sunday 27th June 2021
This year’s rally has attracted a total of 58 drivers both local and international including popular drivers like Frenchman Sébastien Ogier, Onkar Rai, Drew Sturrock, Carl ‘Flash’ Tundo, Tim Jessop et cetera.
The drivers will battle through 18 competitive stages covering 320.19km from today Friday 25th 2021 all through to Sunday 27th 2021.
The return of the safari rally is a great achievement for Kenya as a nation, for the sports world and most of the entire tourism sector especially after the past year we have had – filled with the covid-19 pandemic and lockdowns.
Until 2002 the Safari Rally was part of the World Rally Championship but because of lack of finances and government support the rally was dropped from WRC Calendar.
The Kenya Safari Rally, the sixth round of the 2021 WRC season was restored to World Rally Championship last year after the Kenya president’s campaigns for the rally. Last year however the rally couldn’t happen and it was pushed to this year. And this is the first time the safari rally is happening in 19 years.
The Kenya Safari Rally is a motor racing sport across the terrains of the Kenyan countryside. The rally is part of the World Rally Championship and this year the rally is the sixth round of the World Rally championship. The rally attracts a great number of drivers under different factories and manufacturers. It also attracts a huge of number of sponsors.
The safari rally is popular for being difficult and having extremely onerous conditions that drivers have to overcome to make it to the finish line. This year’s edition will have the lake Naivasha area and the Great Rift Valley area as the challenging spots in the race.
The rally is expected to attract both local and international viewers. The anticipated viewership is estimated at 825 million people or more. The locals are really excited to have the rally back and look forward to enjoying this rally like never before.
Though locals are excited and are looking forward to this spectacular event, the organiser stressed at the press briefing that all covid-19 protocols and standard operating procedures will be observed and will remain in place during the four day rally. This means that locals will not be allowed to gather or throw rally crusades during the rally.
That said, the Kenya safari rally happening this year is such a great success to the Kenyan government after the long engagements with the World Rally Championship for the rally to be restored it is now happening.
Also for the tourism industry this is a great opportunity to showcase the beauty of Kenya to the world and interest people in visiting Kenya and exploring its unique beauty.
Unlike the past years when things were normal, this year because of the pandemic the preparations have be quite challenging but still the organisers have succeeded and today the rally begins.
