Tundo returns in a flash in a Skoda Fabia
Kenya’s Akif Virania in a Skoda Fabia heads for Scrutineering at the Naivasha Service Park on June 20, 2023. Kenyan rallying ace Carl Tundo will compete in this year’s Safari Rally driving a similar Skoda Fabia.
What you need to know:
- Tundo will be joined in the local brigade by Kenyan champion Karan Patel driving a Ford Fiesta, Aakif Virani (Skoda Fabia) Piero Cannobio (Hyundai i20) and Ugandan Yasin Nasser (Ford Fiesta).
- Meanwhile, five Kenya drivers led by Virani navigated by Azhar Bhatti have been given the opportunity to change their entry status from Non Priority to Priority to enable them score valuable points in the FIA World Rally Championship.
Five-time Safari Rally champion Carl “Flash” Tundo is set to light up the 70th WRC Safari Rally to his legion of his followers and Kenyans in general who will be looking forward to the battle between local drivers and the foreign professionals in a similar machines.
This year’s rally will take palce from on June 22 to 25 in Naivasha.
For Tundo, rallying is second nature and he will be at home in the wild of Naivasha like fish to water after acquiring a Skoda Fabia R5 to flex with some of the best rally drivers in the world in the Rally Two category.
Tundo says that he is ready for action after new responsibilities saw him split his time between personal business and serving as chairman of the WRC Safari Rally Organising Committee.
Tundo can't be separated from his passion. He is a legend by his own right and has been part of motorsports since his Safari debut in 1995 driving a Subaru Impreza.
His association with Tim Jessop has been described as firm and fruitful.
His sudden sabbatical from rallying at the end of the 2021 season together with team mates Baldev Chager, Onkar Rai and Eric Bengi. Their absence left a void that has been had to fill.
Tundo left having won the African and national titles in a season he later admitted was very demanding.
Now decidedly rested even after doing the East African main and mini classic, his presence will strengthen the Kenyan challenge in the Safari which has attracted several top drivers from Europe in the Rally Two category led by three-time European champion Kajetan Kajetanowicz who returns to Kenya to defend his WRC2 title.
Other drivers in the WR2 are Polish ace Martin Kropkop in a Ford Fiesta, compatriot Daniel Chwist in a Ford Fiesta R2 and Oliver Solberg of Sweden in a Skoda Fabia.
Tundo will be joined in the local brigade by Kenyan champion Karan Patel driving a Ford Fiesta, Aakif Virani (Skoda Fabia) Piero Cannobio (Hyundai i20) and Ugandan Yasin Nasser (Ford Fiesta).
Meanwhile, five Kenya drivers led by Virani navigated by Azhar Bhatti have been given the opportunity to change their entry status from Non Priority to Priority to enable them score valuable points in the FIA World Rally Championship.
Others are are the three FIA Rallystar programme teams of McRae Kimathi/Mwangi Kioni, Hamza Anwar/Adnan Din and Jeremiah Wahome/Victor Okundi, who are all driving driving Ford Fiestas, and Samman Vohra co-driven by Gurdeep Panesar.
They were expected to make these changes in the FIA portal. He said the drivers had the whole of yesterday to change their status in the FIA portal.
In another development the WRC Safari Rally has organised a veterans' dinner at Safari Park Hotel on June 10 to honour men and women who made a mark in the Safari Rally which is also celebrating its 70 anniversary and 50 years in the WRC.
