•The first three rounds of 2025 remain unchanged with Umeå gearing up to host Rally Sweden in February while Safari Rally Kenya will once again take place in March
• The Safari will double up as a round of the WRC and the Kenya National Rally Championship
Image: SAFARI RALLY
The 2025 Safari Rally returns to its traditional month of March but will not be run on Easter holidays as was the case this year.
This follows the unveiling of the expanded 2025 World Rally Championship (WRC) calendar.
The 2025 Easter weekend will be in April, a few days before Rally Islas Canarias slated for 24 – 27 April.
The first three rounds of 2025 remain unchanged with Umeå gearing up to host Rally Sweden in February while Safari Rally Kenya will once again take place in March.
The Safari will double up as a round of the WRC and the Kenya National Rally Championship. Sources revealed that this year’s Safari will run its Naivasha stages in reverse direction.
The draft route and itinerary will be submitted to FIA and WRC for approval in the first week of October. Reverse stages always present a new challenge to events making them look like running a new one.
WRC Promoter managing director Jona Siebel said: “From the ice in the French Alps, knee-deep snow in Sweden, blinding dust in Kenya and Sardinia, high-speed gravel roller-coasters in Finland and Estonia and finally deserts in Saudi Arabia —the variety we are offering in 2025 is unrivalled.”
“This is a hugely exciting calendar which blends our traditional rallies with three exciting new challenges—two of which are outside of Europe—highlighting once again the global appeal of our championship,” he remarked. All-new stops in Spain, Paraguay and Saudi Arabia highlight a spectacular 14-round 2025 FIA World Rally Championship calendar.
After the traditional start in Monte-Carlo in late January, the WRC will venture into Africa, Asia, Europe and South America before arriving in Saudi Arabia in late November to complete the largest calendar in the championship since 2008.
Well-known to FIA European Rally Championship (ERC) fans, the Canary Islands are ready to welcome the WRC to their shores for the first time, also marking the WRC’s return to Spain following a two-year hiatus.
Providing winding smooth Tarmac surfaces, the high risk of fog as the rally makes its way into the island’s mountainous interiors gives this round its unique challenge.
Hundreds of thousands of fans will disembark in northern Portugal in May for the Vodafone Rally de Portugal before the WRC makes its second island stop of the year, returning to Sardinia in June.
Another iconic rally on the calendar returning to its traditional date in June is Acropolis Rally Greece, preluding the WRC’s high-speed European summer in Estonia and Finland.
Estonia returns to the calendar following a year break running in the European Rally Championship, highlighting the WRC’s successful transition of events between the ERC and WRC, such as Rally Islas Canarias, Rally Poland and Rally Latvia.
From the north of Europe, the WRC travels to the other side of the globe for Paraguay’s debut in late August, followed two weeks later by Rally Chile Bio Bío.
The former, a rally-mad nation that has in recent years increased its global rallying presence with drivers in WRC’s support categories, will test drivers on red gravel roads—running parallel to the spectacularly stunning Paraná River.
Back on the calendar for a third consecutive season, the Central European Rally will see drivers battling changing tarmac road surfaces across Austria, the Czech Republic and Germany with Europe’s autumn conditions adding to the unique encounter.
After signing off from Europe, action will be back to Japan in November for the final tarmac test of the year, before the WRC season concludes with the highly-anticipated Saudi debut—where each of the three days will provide its distinct terrain.
FIA President Mohammed Ben Sulayem said: “It is fantastic to see such a full calendar of events for the 2025 WRC season.
Alongside classic locations fans know and love, the introduction of new rallies in Spain, Paraguay and Saudi Arabia adds even more excitement and reflects the global diversity of competitors and rally fans alike.”
The full 2025 calendar
1. Rallye Monte-Carlo (Jan 23 – 26)
2. Rally Sweden (Feb 13 – 16)
3. Safari Rally Kenya (March 20 – 23)
4. Rally Islas Canarias (April 24 – 27)
5. Vodafone Rally de Portugal (May 15 – 18)
6. Rally Italia Sardegna (June 5 – 08)
7. EKO Acropolis Rally Greece (June 26-29)
8. Delfi Rally Estonia (July 17 – 20).
9. Secto Rally Finland (July 31 – August 3)
10. Rally del Paraguay (August 28 – 31)
11. Rally Chile Bio Bío (September 11 – 14)
12. Central European Rally (October 16 – 19)
13. FORUM 8 Rally Japan (Nov 6 – 9)
14. Rally Saudi Arabia (Nov 27 – 30)