On Thursday, Safaricom rewarded Kenya’s Maxine Wahome a Sh1 million cash reward for her historic performance in the sixth round of the 2022 World Rally Championship (WRC) Safari Rally held in Naivasha last week.
Maxine, the only lady driver out of the 42 drivers who took part, won the category and finished 17th overall. She was navigated by Murage Waigwa in a Ford Fiesta R3,” Safaricom announced.
She completed the 359.93 kilometres rally in five hours, 20 minutes and 21.6 seconds over the three days of action in Nairobi and Nakuru counties.
“I am very grateful to my sponsors Safaricom and Kenya Airways for believing in me and offering me amazing support, which enabled me to feature and win in this year’s Safari Rally. I feel proud to be the first female rally driver in the country to win in the WRC3 category. This is indeed a great milestone in my rallying career and I want to encourage more young ladies to join me in this field,” said the 25-year-old who also became the first female WRC support category winner since Isolde Holderied from Germany won the San Remo Rally‘s Group’ N’ division in 1994.
Maxine is among the four youngest drivers in Kenya alongside Jeremiah Wahome, Hamza Anwar and Africa junior champion McRae Kimathi all who are sponsored by Safaricom and Kenya Airways under the FIA Rally Star Programme, a global initiative that seeks to identify, train, and develop talented young drivers between the ages of 17-27 years.
Jeremiah navigated by Victor Okundi finished second and Kimathi navigated by Mwangi Kioni third in the WRC3 category and 19th and 21st overall respectively. Anwar retired at the 18th stage due to mechanical problems.
As part of the FIA Rally Star programme, the four drivers will also be taken to Estonia and Greece for training. Kimathi, who is competing in all the five Junior WRC rounds, will also do the Estonia and Greece rounds slated for July 14-17 and September 8-11 respectively.
“I am delighted by the splendid performance from our four youngsters during the just concluded WRC Safari Rally. They promised to make us proud and indeed they delivered. They have proven their resilience in the sport and confirmed to the world that Kenya has a great future in motorsport. As Safaricom, we will continue encouraging and supporting our young people to Go Beyond in their careers,” said Safaricom Chief Channels Officer Nicholas Kamunyu on behalf of CEO Safaricom, Peter Ndegwa.
The function was also attended by Kenya Motor Sports Federation (KMSF) president Phineas Kimathi who doubles as the WRC Safari Rally CEO. Phineas defended the selection of the four junior rally drivers – McRae, Jeremiah, Maxine and Hamza – saying it was on merit.
Last year, Safaricom sponsored Maxine to the tune of Sh3 million during the Kenya National Rally Championship (KNRC) and autocross competitions.
Maxine, popularly known as the riding queen for her prowess in motorsport, has successfully participated in the national rally and autocross events.
She also participated in Voi Rally, Machakos Rally, Ramisi Rally and autocross events in Mombasa and Nairobi. Her most recent competitions are The ARC Pearl of Africa Uganda Rally and WRC Safari Rally.
