The World Rally Championship (WRC) Safari Rally has a long tradition of women competing against top male drivers in one of the world’s most challenging rallies.
It has been 42 years since a female rally driver from another country competed in the Safari Rally. The last was the legendary French driver Michèle Mouton, who competed in an Audi Quattro Sport in 1984.
Mouton, now aged 74, retired from the race after her car’s turbo broke down and she took longer than the stipulated time to fix it.She is arguably the most successful female competitor in the history of the Safari Rally, having achieved a third-place podium finish in 1983 and powered the Audi Quattro to victory in the Rally of Portugal in 1982.
These are the kind of inspiring moments that Rwandan female rally driver Queen Kalimpinya will be drawing on as she aims to make history at the WRC Safari Rally.
Twenty-seven-year-old Kalimpinya is aiming to make history by becoming not only the first female rally driver from her country to compete in the WRC Safari Rally, but also the first foreign female driver since Mouton.
Kalimpinya’s chances were boosted yesterday when she received sponsorship of Sh1 million from the Kenya Electricity Generating Company (KenGen).
Kalimpinya, who will be navigated by Olivier Ngabo in a Subaru Impreza WRX STi, was one of three drivers to receive sponsorship from KenGen’s managing director, Peter Njenga, yesterday. The others are Kenyans Ishmael Azeli, who received Sh500,000 and will be co-driven by John Ngugi in a Škoda Fabia RS RC2 Rally2, and Andrew Muiruri, who received Sh600,000 and will be navigated by Edward Njoroge in a Subaru Impreza. Njenga also took the chance to unveil a Sh5 million sponsorship for WRC Safari Rally driver Carl “Flash” Tundo.
“I am here not just to participate, but to finish the rally in a respectable position,” said Kalimpinya, who had an incredible 2025 season that proved a turning point in her career, winning the Rwanda National Rally Championship and being declared Best Female Driver.
From Kenya, Kalimpinya intends to compete in other Africa Rally Championship events, including the Pearl Rally in Uganda, the Rwanda Mountain Gorilla Rally, the Rally of Burundi and the Rally of Tanzania.
“I see this as a responsibility rather than pressure. I have fans and sponsors supporting me, so it’s my duty to show my appreciation,” she said.
“I want to finish the Safari Rally cleanly. We have trained hard for this, and my performance back home shows how seriously I take coming to Kenya,” said Kalimpinya, who holds an MBA in Project Management and works at the government’s Mango Pink factory, which produces garments in Kigali.
Kalimpinya draws inspiration from the likes of world champion Sebastien Ogier, former world champion Oliver Solberg, Carl Tundo, Karan Patel and others.
She is part of a crew of four Rwandan drivers who will be making their debut. The others are Christian Kanangire, Giancarlo Davite and Jean Claude Gakwaya.
