The 2023 World Rally Championships (WRC) Safari Rally got off to a thrilling start today for the much anticipated 4-day event that will be held at Naivasha, Nakuru County, as bigwigs go head-to-head.
KCB Bank Kenya is the official financial partner injecting Kshs. 150 million into this year’s edition, which marks 20 years since KCB started sponsoring motorsports nationwide.
Of the total sponsorship monies, Kshs 100 million will go directly to the 2023 WRC Safari Rally event. Kshs 50 million will support sponsoring three local drivers, brand activations and customer engagements. The drivers are KNRC champion Karan Patel, Nikhil Sachania and Evans Kavisi.
Karan Patel will be navigated by his longtime friend Tauseef Khan while Deep Patel and Absalom Aswani will be navigating Nikhil Sachania and Evans Kavisi, respectively.
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The sponsorship underlines KCB’s commitment to supporting motorsport in the country, having spent over KShs 1.5 Billion in the past 20 years, the highlight being the Safari Rally’s return to the global showpiece that is the World Rally Championships after a two-decade absence.
KCB Group CEO Paul Russo said:
“We believe in building a critical pool of sporting talent that can compete locally and internationally. We also recognize the role of sports in enhancing national cohesion therefore, our support goes a long way in fostering not only the growth of our economy but also bringing people together to enjoy motorsports,” He spoke during the ceremonial flag-off in Nairobi.
The action kicks off tomorrow (Friday) for what is billed as the toughest round in the WRC calendar when the cars head to Kedong Spectator Stage near Naivasha, where the cars will pass through twice during the day. The other stage will be Longonot on the same day. The action will be at the Soysambu Spectator stage near Nakuru on Saturday.
The curtains will fall on Sunday at the Hells Gate, where there will be a live podium Presentation to recognize the top three fastest competitors through the Wolf Power stage. All other cars proceed to WRTI Service Park, Naivasha, for the final finish prize-giving ceremony.
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In the premier WRC 1 class, WRC Safari Rally defending champion Kalle Rovanperä driving a Toyota Yaris Rally1 hybrid car, will be battling for the crown alongside the other 22 crews registered for this year’s event.
The WRC2 class has attracted 11 crews, while WRC3 will have 5. The KCB racing team of Evans and Nikhil will compete in the national category with 4 contestants. The final class is the KNRC which has signed up 11 drivers, including Carl Tundo, who is also the Chairman of the WRC Local Organizing Committee and Jasmeet Chana.
In 2019, KCB became the Official Financial Partner for the Safari Rally Kenya for the World Rally Championship (WRC) Rally, with a 3-year commitment of KShs 250 Million starting with a WRC Candidate event staged in June 2019.
KCB is also spearheading the promotion of sustainability and care for the environment during sporting activities.
“We are championing sustainability initiatives like tree growing, recycling, waste management in the run-up, during and after the Safari Rally,”
Mr Russo added that KCB has joined with other partners in an initiative to plant 400,000 trees in several counties this year. Last year, through this partnership, 700,000 trees were planted.
