Motor racing fever is expected to grip Nairobi, Kiambu and Nakuru counties with reconnaissance and scrutineering setting the mood for this weekend’s WRC Safari Rally candidate event.
On Monday, rally teams received car stickers, road books, safety plans and road maps at the WRC Safari Rally Project secretariat at Kasarani in readiness for the gruelling 796.86kms route course.
Scrutineering for national cars will take place today between 8 am and 6 pm at Kasarani Stadium. This will run concurrently with Day 1 reconnaissance on the rally route.
All homologated ARC cars will be inspected on Thursday between 8am-6pm same as the rest of the national cars. Among state-of-the-art homologated machines include the Skoda Fabia and Ford Fiesta R5 cars as well as Group N and R4 Mitsubishi Evolution Xs. Group R regulations were created in 2008 as a gradual replacement for Group ‘A’ and Group ‘N’ rally cars.
Zambian sensation Leroy Gomes of Zambia will be making his second Safari appearance at the wheel in a Ford Fiesta R5 while the fast and furious Skoda Fabias which have swept the ground with all its continental race adversaries will be driven by reigning African champion Manvir Baryan and local star Onkar Singh Rai.
While drivers and co-drivers will be busy familiarising with Leg 1 and Leg 2 route course, team managers and mechanics will remain at Kasarani Stadium to ensure all rally cars comply with competition safety standards.
Day One (Leg1 A) on Friday will feature the 4.8km Super Special Stage which will also act as the official spectators’ point. After Kasarani super special, the rally crew will embark on a 58.57km transport road section via the 13.61km Gatamaiyo Forest stage which is a mix of rough, smooth and twisty stretches. Cars will pull in at Sopa Lodge, Naivasha after tackling a competitive mileage of 18.42km and a liaison distance of 115.99km.
On Saturday (Leg 1B), the cars will restart at 7 am from Sopa through to three sections at Soysambu (23.86km), Elementaita (15km) and Sleeping Warrior (27.14km) which will be repeated twice for the day’s competitive total of 132 km. Sopa will also host Day 2 overnight Parc Ferme.
Leg 2 on Sunday will take the cars and crews through the last three sections at Malewa (6.3km), Loldia (11.42) and Kedong (38.53km) again to be repeated for the day’s competitive mileage of 112km. Kedong is the event’s longest stage while the Kasarani Super Special stage is the shortest.
Kedong’s repeat runs on Sunday will be the event’s last stage. The rally will cover a total of 796.86km of which 262.93km will be competitive.
WRC Safari Project CEO Phineas Kimathi said the route has been selected and designed to suit spectators’ needs.
“Kasarani Stadium is hosting the Safari for the first time and offers Nairobi fans an opportunity to watch cars competing in the city at high speeds. On Saturday, fans from Nairobi and Nakuru can view cars at Soysambu which is 10km from Lanet. Spectators can also catch up with the cars at Kedong where the last car is expected to cross the finish at 2 pm.”
