Like Maxine Wahome who became the first Kenyan woman to win the WRC3 category, another Kenyan driver also entered his name in the annals of motorsport history as Kenya’s first-ever podium finisher in WRC3.
Amaanraj Singh Rai assured drive earned him the podium in his Skoda Fabia. Amaanraj was 10 min 05.7sec behind the all-US crew of S. Johnston and A. Kihurani with Kenya’s Aakif Varani taking fourth, and the final finisher, also in a Skoda.
Uganda-based Amaanraj is no stranger to Kenyan rallying after entering selected KNRC events over the past few years. He is the son of two-time former Kenya rally champion Sarbi Rai, brother to former Kenyan speedster Rajbir Rai and cousin to Onkar Rai.
Amaanraj entered the Safari with Jassi Chatthe’s navigator Gurdeep ‘Gugu’ Panesar. He said: “It was a great weekend finishing 3rd overall in WRC2 and finishing 12th Overall in the WRC Class being the top crew from Africa region. Amaanraj Rai and I had a good recce and the plan was to keep it clean and tidy and not make a mistake or overdrive. The Skoda R5 is a very strong rally car and on Friday, we had a small problem with the turbo boost but didn’t affect the timings much as more of the concern and preparation was passing through the Kedong “Fesh Fesh”.”
“Saturday we kept it slow and steady in Soysambu and Elementaita but attacked in Sleeping Warrior to gain time on our competitors. The afternoon stages were the same plan but the rain made Elementaita and Sleeping Warrior very difficult and we did manage to set some good times. Sunday was a clean and fast run for us with no problems at all. In general, we had a good clean run but all the WRC and WRC2 drivers are very quick, and difficult to match their pace.”
Kajetan Kajetanowicz scored a career-best result to win WRC2 and move to the top of the championship standings.
