The World Rally Championship (WRC) drivers are staging a protest against the FIA’s controversial new stance on swearing at this weekend’s Safari Rally Kenya.

It comes after Hyundai’s Adrien Fourmaux became the first driver to be punished under the governing body’s new misconduct guidelines after swearing in a stage-end interview at last month’s Rally Sweden.

WRC stage protest over FIA swearing fine at Safari Rally Kenya

The FIA announced fresh guidelines for misconduct offences in January, putting drivers across motorsport at risk of heavy fines, race bans and points deductions.

The move was widely interpreted as a response to the high-profile stand off between the FIA and Max Verstappen, the four-time F1 World Champion, at last year’s Singapore Grand Prix.

Verstappen was sanctioned for swearing in a press conference ahead of the Singapore race, with the Red Bull driver being noticeably unforthcoming in FIA press conferences for the remainder of the weekend.

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Fourmaux became the first driver to be punished under the new system at the recent Rally Sweden after commenting in a stage-end interview that he had “f***ed up.”

The Hyundai star was referring to an incident in which he forgot to fasten his helmet before starting a stage, forcing him to stop to resolve the issue during the stage and lose valuable time to his rivals.

Fourmaux later made a mistake and got stuck in a snowbank as he tried to make up the time lost for his mishap, leaving him a distant 10th at the event of the rally.

The Frenchman’s remarks, made following the final stage of the weekend, saw him hit with a €10,000 with a further €20,000 suspended for 12 months.

The newly formed World Rally Drivers’ Alliance (WoRDA), the WRC equivalent of F1’s Grand Prix Drivers’ Association, issued a firm statement to condemn the punishment handed to Fourmaux and call for “direct communication and engagement” with FIA president Mohammed Ben Sulayem.

The prominent rallying website Dirtfish reports that ‘no discussion’ has taken place between the drivers and the FIA since the statement was published on February 24.

Wednesday’s shakedown in Kenya, the host nation of the iconic Safari Rally, saw drivers return to the stages for the first time since Rally Sweden with most opting to stay silent in television interviews at the end of their runs.

While Elfyn Evans, the Welsh driver competing for Toyota, and reigning WRC champion Thierry Neuville, of Belgium, gave interviews in their native languages, others – including Fourmaux – said nothing.

It follows a similar incident at last year’s Rally Chile, where eight-time champion Sebastien Ogier staged a silent protest after being hit with a suspended €30,000 fine for complaining about the short intervals between cars at the previous round in Greece, where gravel dust compromised his visibility.

Ogier’s fine came despite the Toyota driver avoiding the use of foul language in the interview.

A new WoRDA statement released on Wednesday confirmed the protest at Rally Safari Kenya. It read: “We all agree to keep rudeness at the microphone to a minimum.

“At the same time, it is necessary to maintain a certain freedom of expression and to keep emotions alive while drivers don’t need to be afraid of getting punished in any way.

“We have asked the president of the FIA for some positive changes in the rules to help us achieve this goal.

“For the reasons explained in our statement, it is impossible for us to guarantee that we [drivers and co-drivers] will be able to follow these rules perfectly and systematically.

“This is why we – WoRDA members – are now taking the responsible decision to remain silent at the end of the interviews or to answer in our mother tongue.

“In the own interest of our sport, such an action is unfortunately needed, and we apologise to all the rally fans, even though we know they support us in this.”

Ott Tanak, the 2019 WRC champion and a team-mate of Fourmaux and Neuville at Hyundai, said: “Unfortunately this time we need to go a bit different. I believe [the] first drivers [to complete the shakedown] explained the situation.

“Like you can see already here, adrenaline can be quite high at the end of the stage, so unfortunately regarding the latest actions we can’t give any end of stage comments until it’s again comfortable for the drivers.

“That’s the way it is at the moment. Hopefully the solution comes soon and we can go back to normal.”

Kalle Rovanpera, the Toyota driver and two-time WRC champion, added: “Unfortunately you guys [the media] don’t hear from me so much this weekend.

“But if that’s what we need to do to make a difference, we will do it.”

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