After toiling in the motorsport industry, three Kenyan youth under the age of 26 years, Jeremy Wahome, McRae Mutwiri Kimathi and Hamza Anwar are now poised to join the club of the world sports elite.

This has proven true after Safaricom handpicked the three racers who are set to benefit from the telco’s Ksh15 million sponsorship as part of the FIA Rally Star programme, a global initiative aimed at identifying, training and developing talented young drivers between 17-26 years.

The three will be joining 58 rally drivers including 34 Kenyan racers scheduled to participate in this year’s safari rally which will take place from June 24 to June 27, 2021.

In his career spanning a decade, Wahome has been steadily making his way in racing’s most prestigious competitions. He joined the sport through go-karting in the Rift Valley Motorsports club championship.

Safaricom branded safari rally cars that will feature in the WRC Safari Rally Kenya

SAFARICOM

The level of skill and precision was visible from his early days and his family soon moved to Cheltenham in the UK in 2016, where he got to study and hone his skills on the track.

When he attained the age of 18, Wahome continued perfecting his craft by competing in the British Formula Three Championship.

In the FIA Rally Star programme, Wahome was selected alongside Hamza Anwar, 22, and McRae Mutwiri Kimathi, 26. Anwar has participated in several rally championships worldwide comfortably filling the shoes of his two predecessors - father Asad Anwar and uncle Azar Anwar.

He developed his interest in the sport from an early age by watching his father and uncle’s zeal for racing and started rallying at the age of 15 when he joined the Abdul Sidi Rally School in 2015.

Most recently, he took part in the African Rally Championship Equator Rally and emerged the youngest finisher of the rally at fifth place.

In this year’s championship, Anwar has pegged his dreams in a new Ford Fiesta R3 car he received for being a member of the Federation of International Automobile (FIA) as a Young Star Program.

"It's like a dream come true, thanks to Kenya Airways and Safaricom who have made this possible through the FIA Young Star Program that I have enrolled in,” stated Anwar.

Kimathi, on the other hand, joined the sport at age 15 and is a Formula 2 champion. He finished eighth at the 2021 African Rally Championship Equator Rally.

Safaricom CEO Peter Ndegwa, in a statement, noted that the programme was launched to support the upcoming rally championship that suffered over 2-decade hiatus while empowering the youth.

These three youthful rally drivers will participate in the ​WRC Safari Rally Kenya

SAFARICOM

“We have always believed in supporting the youth by giving them a platform to showcase their talent and to excel, whether this is through sports, music or the arts. The FIA programme allows us to support the WRC Safari Rally while also pursuing our passion point of empowering youth.

"The three young Kenyan drivers we will be supporting have the potential to become the next big stars and with the Safari Rally now back on the WRC calendar, they get to showcase their talents on an international stage,” stated Ndegwa.

The Ksh15 million allocated to three youngsters is part of the Ksh17.5 million sponsorship for the Safari Rally event scheduled to take place in Nakuru

In 2007, Kenya's Safari Rally joined the Intercontinental Rally Challenge for one year for the first time since 2002.

The event will be broadcast in over 155 live TV markets. Kenyans.co.ke