Safari Rally 2025 schedule for Friday as action starts proper in Naivasha

Citizen Digital’s reporter Immanuel Ndung’u looks at the current standings following an action-packed Super Special Stage at Kasarani, as all eyes now turn to Super Stage (SS) 3-10.

Hyundai’s Ott Tanak is coming in with a 2.4 second lead over Toyota’s Takamoto Katsuta, with Polish Kajetan Kajetanowicz leading the way in WRC 2.

Naveen Puligilla, an Indian driving a Ford had an impressive showing and tops WRC 3, while local driver Ninesh Rathod got the first blood in the national category.

The drivers kick off the day with a brand new stage for this year’s edition – Camp Moran – a testing 31.4km route that combines narrow, technical tracks, fast dips, jumps and rocky outcrops.

SS3 will begin at 07:13 am EAT and will certainly separate the men from the boys at the beginning of the day.

Shortly after that, the drivers travel to the first Loldia stage for SS4. The 19.11 km route will seem somewhat familiar to the drivers as it is the same course as last year, but run in the opposite direction.

At 10:04, a 13.21 km, high-speed blast through Geothermal 1 (SS5) will begin, running in the same direction as 2024 but with a new start location on tarmac.

Expect long, fast straights, sweeping bends and tight technical corners – this stage has it all.

The popular Kedong stage will finish off the morning session. The 15.10 km parkour features the famous Miti Mbili jump and sections of deep dust before the cars limp home to the midday service.

For 40 minutes, teams can fix any damage picked up during previous stages and make setup changes to their cars.

The afternoon stages are a repeat of the morning schedule – SS7 Camp Moran 2 at 13:30; SS8 Loldia 2 at 15:08; SS9 Geothermal 2 at 16:21 and SS10 Kedong 2 at 17:14.

Rain will be in the air all week, but the chance of precipitation is unlikely in the morning. From noon, rain becomes more likely, but only peaks at 45% at 17:00 pm.

Temperatures should also be slightly higher at highs of 24 degrees C, so carry your deck chair and enjoy better weather than the previous day or two as you watch the cars speed past you.