Kenya doesn’t trip off the tongue as a global motorsport powerhouse but at the Safari Rally two trailblazing local drivers determined to break down barriers lit up the famous event.
While Toyota’s Kalle Rovanpera enhanced his reputation as the World Rally Championship’s new wonderkid by conquering the Safari, there was another success story unfolding in the Kenyan savannah. Part-time school teacher Maxine Wahome created history by becoming the first woman to win a WRC support class since Isolde Holderied won a Group N Cup round in 1994, with victory in WRC3.
But Wahome wasn’t the only trailblazing local, as paraplegic driver Nikhil Sachania inspired disabled drivers across the globe to finish arguably the world’s toughest rally inside the top 20.
Wahome’s success has shot the 26-year-old to not only national notoriety but global fame, with her achievements recognised by none other than seven-time Formula 1 world champion Lewis Hamilton, who shared Motorsport.com’s post celebrating the milestone.
Incredibly Wahome’s success has arrived just 12 months after taking up rallying at the 2021 Safari Rally, and her victory came in her first event behind the wheel of the M-Sport Poland built Ford Fiesta Rally3 car. Motorsport has always been in Wahome’s blood as the daughter of a rally driver, which initially piqued an interest in all things with an engine.
Eleven years in motocross finally gave way to a foray into rallying after convincing her father that it was time to go rallying. And in the space of a year, Wahome has enjoyed a meteoric rise from competing in the African Rally Championship events to becoming a history-making WRC3 event winner.
“My dad used to rally in the 1980s and 1990s and when I used to watch him that was when I knew I wanted to do it,” says Wahome.
“I asked him one day and he said the easiest thing to do was to do motocross and I did that for 11 years and eventually I told him it was time to change. I got into Rallycross and last year we entered the WRC Safari Rally last year with my Subaru Impreza, so I have only been competing for one year.
Maxine Wahome only drove her WRC3 car on dirt for the first time at Safari Rally Kenya
Photo by: WRC.com
“Definitely it is a big surprise for me [to win WRC3]. My goal was just to learn the car so by learning the car each day I guess I improved my speed and made it to first position.
“Thursday was my first time sitting in this car on the dirt. I guess the only testing…
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