Why we should support Safari Rally’s WRC project

Phineas Kimathi, chairman of the Kenya Motorsports Foundation (KMSF), travels to Europe on Tuesday for this weekend’s Rally Finland.

The 500-kilometre rally is the eighth on the World Rally Championship (WRC) calendar this year and is considered the toughest.

Kimathi, himself a veteran rally driver, will not be competing in Finland, but will be in the Scandinavian nation on an observer mission as the chief executive officer of the WRC Safari Rally Project.

Only last month, Kimathi was in a Kenyan delegation, led by Sports Principal Secretary Kirimi Kaberia, to the headquarters of the International Automobile Federation (FIA) in Paris where the iconic Safari Rally was granted WRC “candidate event” status by the world motorsports governing body.

The candidate status basically means that the Safari is on course to returning to the prestigious WRC circuit which currently has 13 rounds.

GLOBAL CIRCUIT
Since 2002, the Safari Rally — celebrated as the “world’s toughest rally” — has not featured on the global circuit due to sponsorship, safety and security issues coupled with the changing and more demanding format of global rallying.

This meant that local organisers have had to make drastic changes to comply with the stringent FIA requirements.
Through support from the government, led by a personal commitment by President Uhuru Kenyatta, Kenya now feels everything has come full circle and the country is ready to dine with the big boys of global rallying.

Over Sh200 million has been committed to the WRC Safari Rally Project with last month’s meetings in Paris with FIA President Jean Todt and the managing director of the WRC Promoter GmbH, Oliver Ciesla, penning what should be the official endorsement of the safari’s return.

SPECIAL STAGES

“This is a modern-era Safari. Traditional open-road competitive sections have been replaced by smoother special stages in private estates and conservancies and a comprehensive safety plan is in place to support a rally organised to the current WRC format,” Ciesla said in Paris last month while endorsing the Safari’s plans.

Kimathi’s trip to Europe is the first of many involving about a dozen core members of the WRC Safari Rally Project who will be embedded in the WRC rounds to come so that they benefit from much-needed exposure to get Kenya back on the rails.

The Safari project will benefit Kenya immensely through the elevation of the country’s sports tourism potential with our officials, mechanics, media and fans all benefiting from the first class competition foreign crews will bring.

“We shall send 10 to 12 technical officials to the Rally of Turkey (September 13-16) basically to make sure that everyone who is a decision-maker in the WRC Safari Rally Project has exposure and an opportunity to learn from the WRC events,” Kimathi explains, his enthusiasm in pushing the project to delivery obvious.

GAIN EXPOSURE
“Even the Cabinet Secretary for Sports, who is the chairman of the project’s steering committee, will also gain such exposure.”

Kenya successfully hosted the world for an incident-free IAAF World Under-18 Championships in Nairobi last month, and hosting a round of the WRC will further endorse the country as a safe destination for both tourists and investors.

The role of sport in national development cannot be overstated.

We have seen the socio-economic and political benefits that Russia continues to enjoy after hosting an awesome Fifa World Cup which Kenya can draw from in bidding for major global sporting events.

Since security concerns were raised following the troubled 2007 General Election, Kenya has taken huge strides in securing the country’s borders and enhancing internal security, a factor that was key to the FIA’s decision to hand the “candidate event” status to the Safari.

MAINTAIN HIGH GEAR

What remains now is for Kimathi and his team to maintain the high gear and for organisers of the Kenya National Rally Championships to be more aggressive and meticulous in organising the series to help market motorsports more to fans, media and sponsors alike.

It’s quite easy to make the Safari Rally, once again, the world’s toughest and most popular round of the WRC series and, more importantly, to help sell Kenya to the world.
The fact that it will be 10 times shorter than the 5,000 kilometres of old notwithstanding.

Appropriately, the slogan of the 2019 WRC candidate rally is: “The great Kenyan experience in Africa.”

That’s why we should support Kimathi’s team and live that dream!

Makori is the Editor - Sports at Nation Media Group: [email protected]