World rallying siblings add much-needed zest to the 2024 WRC Safari Rally

Motor rallying worldwide is a complex sport to get started in.  That’s why many of today’s top rally drivers have had dads, mums, uncles or cousins who’ve competed before them, and were there to get their careers started.

Safari Rally 2024 has several family personalities directly or indirectly involved in the competition. The 2003 world rally champion Petter Solberg and his son are in the Safari mix, and so are the trail-blazing mother-and-daughter crew of Tinashe Gatimu, incidentally in their second Safari partnership.

Mother and Daughter crew

Tinashe and Gatimu are part of the four-car Talanta Hela all-women’s crew in the 2024 Safari Rally competing in the Kenya National Rally Championship category.

The Solbergs

Probably the biggest family in the business, Henning and Petter Solberg started in Bilcross, a cheap version of the rally in Norway, following in the footsteps of their parents Terje and Tove.

Petter is among the FIA officials in the country in his capacity as the FIA Drivers Commission Vice-President and father of Oliver Solberg, competing in the WRC Safari WRC2 category.

Pernilla Solberg, Oliver’s mum, was recently named as president of the World Rally Championship Commission, adding more glamour and recognition to the Solberg family.

Petter and Oliver attended the historic inauguration of the Talanta Motorsport Academy in Kasarani and couldn’t conceal their joy of coming back to Kenya time and time again.

Petter said: “I have been to Kenya a few times now since my last event in 2002. Safari is always very special because people talk about very rough and tough stages, then it makes me think back again to our time when these stages were 160kms."

“So, Kenya is magical, it’s the most seen rally on WRC TV, and it elicits a big interest globally. But then again, we have seen rallying technology morph through different guises. In our time, we didn’t have much suspension travel. It’s a big difference in the suspension comparing our cars and the current Rally1 Hybrid,” Petter expounded.

Asked about his association with his son Oliver on Safari, Petter went on to explain: “I’m not part of Oliver’s team. He is driving for Skoda, so I am more like a father giving him advice when I come to rallies, but the Skoda team are taking good care of him, by and large.”

Rovanperas

Finnish rally driver Harri “Rovis” Rovanperä competed in the World Rally Championship from 1993 to 2006 and is another Safari Rally veteran who finished second in Kenya in 2002 before the iconic event took a lengthy break from the WRC. Harri was known as a loose surface specialist. He is the father of 2022 and 2023 World Rally driver’s championship winner Kalle Rovanperä.

Having taken the second position on Safari in 2002, his son Kalle was back in Africa two decades later to complete the family legacy with victory in 2022.

“Harri is a good friend of mine, and he is not here now. But it’s great to see our sons coming up, it has so much to do with experience, and all the help you have on the way from your parents is good. We are proud parents when we see our children taking over from where we left.”

The Munsters

Safari’s WRC2 competitor Charles Munster praised his family-run team after he finished second in class on his FIA European Rally Championship debut on Rally Islas Canarias in 2020.

Charles, and his younger brother Grégoire Munster of the M-Sport Ford World Rally Team, have always attributed their success to the efforts of his father and former ERC regular Bernard Munster.

Asked about his safari role, Petter was all smiles: “As the Vice-President of the Drivers Commission at FIA, we try to gather information of all categories of motorsport around the world, basically, so if a driver or a co-driver has any concern, he comes to the Commission and we try our level best to get the best possible solution. I have a lot of experience, and I’m proud to help from my side. My wife is the President of the WRC Commission and so has a bigger job than I do,”

Oliver on his part said: “It’s always amazing racing in Kenya, my favourite place with the biggest adventure and challenge of the year, always a great pleasure coming back here. It is always nice to get some tips and experience from our family members, dad and mum have been amazing behind the scenes.”