NAIROBI, Kenya, Jan 13 – The FIA World Rally Championship (WRC) has undergone a number of rule tweaks in the run up to the 2024 season with a new points structure being envisaged a “game changer”.
Locally, purists believe it will make the 2024 WRC Safari Rally Kenya (round three of the WRC) a lot more exciting and fun to watch especially going into Saturday’s penultimate run where crews will for the first time earn majority of the points at stake.
Former Kenya’s Two Wheel Driver champion Dennis Mwenda aka “Dere Mwenda” observed: “Wow. This is a game changer and will render the events (including Safari) more exciting and more competitive. Leading on Saturday will be the most advantageous thing for the Priority 1 drivers and that means even if you retire on Sunday it’s another thing all together.”
“This means there will be no slowing down to save tires for the power stage. It was be very competitive. It will be battle till last minute. It will narrow down the gap between competitors,” Mwenda added.
-How the new rule works—
Beginning with the season opening Rallye Monte Carlo, the new sporting regulations dictate that points will be awarded for the general classification on Saturday night.
That’s 18 for the win, 15 for second, etc, down to a single point for sitting 10th ahead of the final day.
But then again, those Saturday points are only cemented when a crew is confirmed in the event’s final classification; meaning crews must finish Sunday to claim Friday-Saturday points!
If you’re quickest through the final day, you’ll bag seven points, with a bonus on offer down to seventh (which merits a single point).
But the power stage point structure remains unchanged with a win lifting five.
So why was the rule introduced?
The prime reason for its introduction is to prevent drivers from cruising through Sunday’s stages preserving tyres for the end-of-rally Power Stage, which remains unchanged with the top five fastest drivers receiving bonus points, five the maximum.
WRC Hyundai Motorsport star Ott Tanak nevertheless told www.motorsport.com website that the new WRC points system won’t change approach, adding that the meaning of victory is “less” now.
Tanak: “Let’s see how it works out. In terms of approach, it won’t change anything as you need to take the maximum from everything,” Tanak told Motorsport.com.
“It is always easy to criticize but generally let’s say the meaning of victory is quite a lot less, so it is not a big difference anymore if you are winning or second. It just gets a bit more complicated as well. I guess for us as the drivers it doesn’t really change anything. Yeah for sure, it means that you have to maximize on Sunday.”
Meanwhile, a significant shift takes place at the 2024 WRC Safari Rally Kenya with the return to the traditional Easter date, having been staged in June in the latest editions.
The change is anticipated to take the Kenyan round a higher notch in terms of atmosphere due to the Easter Holidays which means more spectators will make it to Naivasha to get the lifetime experience of the iconic Safari
This year’s Safari Rally could also see a change venue for the ceremonial finish podium, awards ceremony and post-event press conference from the Service Park at the Wildlife Research and Training Institute (WRTI) to the end of the Power Stage at the Hells Gate National Park.
The Safari is the third round of the 2024 World Rally Championships after this month’s Rallye Monte (January 25-28) and Rally Sweden (15-18 February) and will start at the iconic Kenyatta International Convention Centre in Nairobi on March 28.
