The African McRae aiming to become a WRC pioneer

By:

Tom Howard

Mar 8, 2022, 12:49 PM

Taking his first step into the Junior World Rally Championship category, McRae Kimathi - named after 1995 world champion Colin - found himself in the unfamiliar climes of Sweden's snow and ice. Having impressed, Kimathi hopes to blaze a trail to the top level of WRC and help other African drivers to step onto the ladder

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Named after World Rally Championship great Colin McRae, it was perhaps destined that Kenya’s McRae Kimathi would set foot in a rally car. Well versed when it comes to challenges in both life and sport, the sub-Saharan McRae is breaking down barriers and blazing a trail for African rally drivers.

Sport has often provided a platform for individuals to overcome obstacles and breakdown pre-conceived barriers. This is all too familiar for Kimathi, who last month, alongside co-driver Mwangi Kioni, became the first African crew to finish Rally Sweden just days after seeing snow for the first time.

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Tom Howard

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Tom Howard is a News Editor working across both Autosport.com and Motorsport.com websites. Starting out as a sports reporter in local newspapers, Tom focussed on motorsport covering several national championships in the UK, including the BTCC.

After a period working as a freelance journalist, Tom moved to Australia in 2013 landing a job at leading Australian motorsport news outlet speedcafe.com, covering international motorsport events including F1, WRC and Supercars. Progressing to Editor in 2017, Tom was named Motorsport Australia Journalist of the Year for his work. He is also a two-time winner of Supercars Journalist of The Year (2017,2019) and a Supercars Championship Media Award winner in 2019.

Tom moved back to his native UK in 2020, firstly working in BTCC, before joining Autosport and motorsport.com in 2021.