US rally star with Kenyan roots books Safari Rally date, finally!
Kenya-born American navigator Alex Kihurani during the interview with Nation Sport’s Elias Makori at the Croatia Rally Service Park on April 23, 2022.
What you need to know:
- Not many Kenyan sports enthusiasts may have heard of Kihurani, 35, who was last in Kenya about 10 years ago, but who grew loving the Safari Rally of old
- Kihurani Junior just can’t wait to compete at the June 23-26 Safari Rally, a legendary event his father grew up loving
- He described their Croatia Rally experience here so far as “incredibly stressful and challenging”
In Zagreb
There’s something special about Kenya. Every which way you look, there’s a Kenyan making history, somewhere. Anywhere. Everywhere.
So much has already been said about McRae Kimathi and Mwangi Kioni’s fairytale foray into the World Rally Championship (WRC), competing in their second WRC Junior category at the Croatia Rally here after debuting in Sweden in February.
Meanwhile, another Kenyan, 62-year-old James Kagambi, inched closer to history Saturday when he landed at base camp, some 5,464 metres above sea level high up on Mt Everest.
The retired teacher is now some 20.4 kilometres from the peak of the world’s highest mountain that rises to 8,848.86 metres above sea level.
It takes two weeks to get to base camp, and Kagambi is part of a team seeking to make history by peaking the world’s highest mountain as the first all-black team under the Full Circle Everest Expedition.
His 70-day journey has been sponsored by gaming firm Betika.
And then there’s Alexander Kihurani.
The American of Kenyan parentage is USA’s top rally navigator, currently competing in the World Rally Championship’s Rally2 category, navigating fellow American Sean Johnston.
On Saturday, the pair were lying in 22nd place overall in their Citroen at the Croatia Rally here, some 15 minutes, 45.3 seconds adrift of Finland’s two-day leader Kalle Rovanpera of Toyota.
Kenya-born American navigator Alex Kihurani (left) with WRC Safari Rally chief executive officer Phineas Kimathi at the Croatia Rally Service Park on April 23, 2022.
Not many Kenyan sports enthusiasts may have heard of Kihurani, 35, who was last in Kenya about 10 years ago, but who grew loving the Safari Rally of old.
His father, Gakuu Kihurani, was a rallying enthusiasts and maintained his love for motorsport when he relocated to Pennsylvania, USA, in the late 1970s, jumping into the Susquehannock Trail Performance Rally in 1981 and tagging a then six-year-old Alex to the circuit in 1993.
Kihurani Junior just can’t wait to compete at the June 23-26 Safari Rally, a legendary event his father grew up loving.
“It was my dad growing up with the Safari Rally that gave him the passion to try and find motorsport in the US, and then I also grew up watching the Safari Rally and also watching European rallies with him,” Kihurani told Nation Sport at the Croatia Rally’s Service Park after the competition’s 12th stage, an 8.78-kilometre drive from Vinski Vrh to Duga Resa in the Balkan nation’s rolling, wine-growing hills.
Kihurani relocated to London and with his driver Johnston based in Germany, the pair can now effectively tackle the busy World Rally Championship circuit.
“I finally made it to the WRC and I’m finally getting to do a Safari Rally this year now that I live in London… It’s been a big circle to get to the Safari,” he explained.
Kihurani might as well have been racing in America’s popular Nascar series, but the Safari Rally bug that bit his father also got the better of the young man.
“My dad is from Kenya were he grew up in the 1970s,” he sought to explain.
“He always told me about pushing (Italian legend) Sandro Munari out of the ditch at the Safari Rally when he was a teenager.
“So I’ve always had the passion for rallying, taking up from him.
“Rallying is always what I wanted to do and the Safari Rally finally feels like coming back home for me... the Safari Rally is the rallying home for us, for sure.”
Kenya-born American navigator Alex Kihurani (right) with WRC Safari Rally chief executive officer Phineas Kimathi at the Croatia Rally Service Park on April 23, 2022.
Kihurani hasn’t been to Kenya for the last 10 years which makes his Safari Rally entry particularly special.
“It’s been about 10 years now so it will be great because the past eight years I’ve been rallying in Europe and doing WRC events and so it’s been quite busy and not enough time to make it back to Kenya to see the family.
“But this time round it will be good – a week for the rally, and a week to see all my aunts, uncles and cousins and then back on the WRC schedule.”
His driver Johnston is equally elated about their Safari Rally debut.
“I can’t wait! It’s been a lifelong dream for Alex… the allure of this event (Safari Rally) is something special,” Johnston said yesterday.
“It’s been a goal for us and now we finally have the budget and the proper programme to include it this year, so we are really looking forward to it.”
He described their Croatia Rally experience here so far as “incredibly stressful and challenging.”
