2017 ARC calendar:Feb. 11-12: Rallye Bandana (Ivory Coast)March 18-19: Safari Rally (Kenya)Apr. 29-30: Sasol Rally (South Africa)July 1-2: Pearl of Africa Uganda Rally (Uganda)Aug 5-6: Rally of Tanzania (Tanzania)Sep 9-10: Rwanda Mt. Gorilla Rally (Rwanda)Oct 21-22: Zambia International Rally (Zambia)

The Federation International Africa Rally Championship (FIA-ARC) has released the official schedule for the 2017 season.

However, the new schedule comes with a few changes in the ARC calendar where next season’s championship will have an additional round, with ARC heading back to Kenya after a two-year absence.

Among the other changes will see the Rwanda Mountain Rally moved as the penultimate round and will be the held on September 9-10. Initially, Rwanda’s most prestigious motorsport event has been staged in August and has always been the fourth event on the seven-round calendar.

The changes will also see the Uganda Pearl of Africa Rally coming earlier in July. However, the Rallye Bandama retained its position as the season opener while South African Sasol Rally is pushed to third after the return of the Kenya Safari Rally, in the second place.

The 2016 season came to a climax on December 2, with Kenya’s Don Smith his navigator Bob Kaugi being crowned the 2016 FIA-Africa champions in a ceremony held at Imperial Hofburg Palace in Vienna, Austria.

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