Jim Heather Hayes Rally to close motorsport season
Samman Vohra (right) and navigator Alfir Khan in a Skoda Fabia at the of the Eldoret Rally in Uasin Gishu County on February 17, 2024.
What you need to know:
- The 2024 Equator Rally was scheduled for this weekend in Nairobi and the Stone Athi plains of Machakos County.
- The Kenya Motor Sports Federation (KMSF) announced the abrupt cancellation of the race due to the prevailing rains.
The Jim Heather Hayes Memorial Rally, December 13-15 in Nanyuki concludes the motorsport season this year following the cancellation of the Guru Nanak Equator Rally.
The Guru Nanak was to be the last leg of a watered down Africa Championship this year that struggled because of the financial challenges in Kenya, Tanzania and Cote d'Ivoire.
Only rounds in Uganda, Zambia, Rwanda and Burundi have been held this year.
Africa champions Kenyans Karan Patel and Tauseef Khan are the only crew that competed in all the round.
This pales in comparison to the 2021/22 edition that attracted top regional drivers from Kenya, Uganda and Zambia. Kenyan crews numbered five to six in rounds outside Kenya and over 30 competing in the country.
The 2024 Equator Rally was scheduled for this weekend in Nairobi and the Stone Athi plains of Machakos County.
The Kenya Motor Sports Federation (KMSF) announced the abrupt cancellation of the motorcar race due to the prevailing rains minus an alternative route that was to be contested by only 10 drivers.
The Jim Heather Hayes, although a classic cars race, has capped its entry to 60 cars following overwhelming interest.
The Equator Rally, second to the WRC Safari Rally in terms of prestige and standing in the Africa Championship owing to the high level of competition and organisational acumen, is also the final round of the Kenya National Rally Championship (KNRC).
The Equator Rally was between 2003 and 2018 heavily sponsored by KCB Bank before the WRC Safari Rally Project took over in 2018 as a ground preparation for Kenya’s bid to return the Safari back to the World Rally Championship (WRC) in 2018 and as a FIA World Rally Championship (WRC) Candidate Event in 2019 which birthed the present day WRC Safari Rally.
The Equator was fully-funded by the WRC Safari Rally Project in 2021 as the curtains raiser for the much anticipated return of the Safari in the WRC mid that year, and served the same purpose the following year.
KMSF lacked a sponsor for the rally last year and announced cancellation of the event before the Simba Union Club volunteered to organise the rally at a fraction of the initial budget.
However, the club threw in the towel at the last minute due to financial challenges, forcing the Sports Ministry to host a watered down event in Voi.
The Simba Union again volunteered to combine the Equator Rally with its annual Guru Nanak round of the KNRC this year and had made arrangement for the June event but the KMSF was forced to announce a postponement on May 4 following the abnormally heavy rains mid this year which affected most parts of the country.
The KMSF announced on Monday the cancellation citing impassable roads.
Samman Vohra, driving a Skoda Fabia, leads the national championship with 14 points, closely followed by defending champion Jasmeet Chana.
