CS Amina Mohammed to flag off ARC Equator Rally Friday
Sports Cabinet Secretary Amb Dr Amina Mohammed will flag off the African Rally Championship (ARC) Equator Rally Friday from 16:00hrs onwards.
Amina will be accompanied to the rally location by Sports Principal Secretaries Joe Okudo and his counterpart in Heritage and Culture Josephat Mukobe.
Prior to Ceremonial Start, the CS and her team will grace the early morning Free Practice, well in time for the fast and furious midday Qualifying Stage and Shakedown at Loldia in the lakeside region of Naivasha.
The Qualifying Stage is being used as a yardstick to ascertain the start order for the rally proper on Saturday.
The ARC Equator Rally will act as dry run for the much awaited World Rally Championship (WRC) Safari Rally slated for June 24-27.
Speaking at the Media Centre, Kenya Motor Sport Federation (KMSF) Chairman and WRC Safari Rally CEO Phineas Kimathi said the event will enable the Local Organising Committee (LOC) assess their preparedness well in time for the WRC Safari Rally.
"We are at the KWS Institute in Naivasha to generally carry out the final checks of the FIA ARC Equator Rally which is running as a test run of m Safari Rally return to the WRC in 2021.
You are aware that Africa as a continent and Kenya as a country lost the WRC status 19 yeats ago."
"Today 62 days before the return of the WRC, the country is witnessing a major event whose set up I'm sure you have experienced.
When it comes to this Centre at KWS, we are hosting the service park, media centre, the rally headquarters and many other facilities like hospitality.
We are adhering to the government directive on Covid and this is because we are wary of the times we are living in and all of you know of the protocols you are supposed to observe.
This centre is ready and I have gone round to establish that everything is running fine, Internet connectivity is good, you can stream live.
Another thing is power is available and we want to thank Kenya Power for actually making it possible in good time."
Kimathi added that security has been beefed up as we have Commissioner JM Kabiru from the National Police Service, Mr Koech from the NYS and a representative of KWS who have made sure that that security is tiptop in the rally vicinity."
Due to Government restrictions on Covid-19, Mr Kimathi noted that no fans will be allowed during the race weekend.
