The East African Safari Classic Rally starts today. Finishes Monday. A week on Monday. That’s right… it’s nine days long.
Just when you think you’ve seen it all with some of the finest historic action in years at last month’s Roger Albert Clark Rally in Britain, Kenya goes one better and delivers 1015 competitive miles in 24 stages.
And it starts with a bang. After today’s start ceremonies in Vipingo Ridge, Sunday’s opening test is 75 miles long, the length of most days on a modern round of the World Rally Championship.
The Porsche 911 is the weapon of choice with 27 of them making the start, almost twice the number of any other car. Last year’s winner Baldev Chager is among those relying on Stuttgart power. His Kabras Sugar Racing-run car leads the field away. Austrian Kris Rosenberger won in 2019 and returns in another 911.
Ian Duncan, who won the world championship-qualifying Safari in 1994, is another former East African Safari Classic Rally victor returning to the Kenyan roads next week. He drives his formidable Datsun 280Z.
Two-time Junior World Rally Champion P-G Andersson shares a Tuthill-run Porsche with Evgeniy Kireev, while more recent WRC stars Jourdan Serderidis and Gregoire Munster partner in another 911.
