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The much awaited return of world Rally Championships (WRC) has been postponed until 2021 as the fight for coronavirus pandemic bites.
The championships which were set to be held between July 16th and 19th has been rescheduled for next year after Sports Cabinet Secretary Amina Mohammed announced today.
Mohamed said the decision was reached at after sustained discussion between the Government of Kenya, WRC Promoter and the International Motorsport Association (FIA) since March when coronavirus was declared a global pandemic.
“We are grateful to the Patron, His Excellence President Uhuru Kenyatta for his unwavering support and counsel as we deliberated on the next step,” the CS said in a statement.
“We also owe exceptional gratitude to the President of the FIA, Mr Jean Totd, and the WRXC Promoter led by Oliver Ciesla for their unyielding support since we commenced engagements to return the Safari Rally to the WRC circuit.”
The Safari was scheduled to be the eighth round of the 13-event WRC series and the latest to be affected by Covid after Argentina, Portugal and Italy rallies.
In 2017, the government gave a grant of Sh250 million. Last year, the Safari was held as a WRC Candidate event observed by top officials from the FIA and its commercial rights holder company, WRC Promoter.
On September 27 last year, the FIA President Jean Todt confirmed Safari Rally’s return to the WRC