The 2017 African Rally Championship was the 37th season of the African Rally Championship (ARC), the FIA regional zone rally championship for the African continent. The season began on February 10, 2017 in the Côte d'Ivoire, and ended on October 22, 2017 in Zambia, after seven events.
The championship was won for the first time by Skoda Fabia driver Manvir Singh Baryan. Baryan won four of the seven rallies in the championship, winning in Uganda, Rwanda, Tanzania and Zambia after the first three rallies of the season were won by drivers not contesting the championship. Baryan won the title by 35 points over Mitsubishi Lancer driver Leeroy Gomes. Gomes' best performance was a second place points finish at the York Rally in South Africa which was dominated by non-point scoring local drivers. Baryan's victory was the first time a Skoda driver has won the ARC and the first new manufacturer to claim the drivers title since Subaru driver Satwant Singh won in 1996.
The 2017 African Rally Championship was as follows:
| Round | Rally name | Podium finishers | Statistics | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rank | Driver | Car | Time | Stages | Length | Starters | Finishers | ||||
| 1 |  Rallye Bandama - Côte d'Ivoire(10–12 February)[1] | 1 | Moriféré Soumaoro | Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution X | 2:32:01.6 | 12 | 248.22 km | 30 | 8 | ||
| 2 | Maxime Abondio | Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution IX | 2:40:49.1 | ||||||||
| 3 |  Loïc Malherbe | Subaru Impreza STi | 2:48:10.8 | ||||||||
| 2 |  Safari Rally(17–18 March)[2] | 1 |  Tapio Laukkanen | Subaru Impreza WRX STi R4 | 1:54:12 | 9 | 201.54 km | 45 | 30 | ||
| 2 | Ian Duncan | Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution X | 1:54:34 | ||||||||
| 3 | Carl Tundo | Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution X | 1:56:18 | ||||||||
| 3 | York Rally (21–22 April)[3] | 1 | Japie Van Niekerk | Ford Fiesta S2000 | 2:24:50.3 | 14 | 205.27 km | 25 | 15 | ||
| 2 | Guy Botterill | Toyota Etios R2 | 2:31:32.2 | ||||||||
| 3 | AC Potgieter | Volkswagen Polo R2 | 2:35:38.4 | ||||||||
| 4 |  V-Power Pearl of Africa Uganda Rally(30 June–2 July)[4] | 1 | Manvir Singh Baryan | Škoda Fabia R5 | 2:09:13 | 11 | 231.75 km | 51 | 20 | ||
| 2 |  Christakis Fitidis | Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution X | 2:19:04 | ||||||||
| 3 |  Giancarlo Davite | Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution X | 2:19:51 | ||||||||
| 5 |  Oryx Energies Rally of Tanzania(4–6 August)[5] | 1 | Manvir Singh Baryan | Škoda Fabia R5 | 2:21:35 | 8 | 280.34 km | 26 | 13 | ||
| 2 | Ahmed Huwel | Ford Fiesta Proto | 2:27:52 | ||||||||
| 3 | Harinder Singh Deere | Subaru Impreza STi N12 | 2:32:49 | ||||||||
| 6 |  Rwanda Mountain Gorilla Rally(8–9 September)[6] | 1 | Manvir Singh Baryan | Škoda Fabia R5 | 1:55:10 | 14 | 203.95 km | 16 | 9 | ||
| 2 | Giancarlo Davite | Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution X | 2:00:07 | ||||||||
| 3 |  Valery Bukera | Subaru Impreza STi N12 | 2:00:21 | ||||||||
| 7 | Gomes Pembe Zambia International Rally (21–22 October)[7] | 1 | Manvir Singh Baryan | Škoda Fabia R5 | 2:08:12 | 10 | 183.80 km | 12 | |||
| 2 | Muna Singh, Jr. | Subaru Impreza STi R4 | 2:11:27 | ||||||||
| 3 | Muna Singh | Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution IX | 2:15:21 | ||||||||
The 2017 African Rally Championship points are as follows:
|