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Wahome shifts gear ahead of ARC event

Tuesday, March 29th, 2022 00:38 | By

Maxine Wahome says she has no time to rest as she embarks on her preparations for the Africa Rally Championship, Equator Rally set for next month in Naivasha.

Her assurances comes after Wahome,  navigated by Safina Khan, proved on Sunday to be the best ladies’ crew after they won the first-ever Ladies Rally in a Subaru Impreza N10 at the Kasarani Race Circuit. The historic rally will now be a permanent fixture on the Kenya Motorsport calendar.

Maxine now wants to do well this year and has set a target of finishing within the top 10 at the ARC Rally besides competing once again in the Safari in July where she targets to finish the race for a second consecutive year.  “Together with my navigator, we showed our abilities. I am happy to win the inaugural Lioness rally and of course, it is a huge motivation for me as I prepare for the ARC rally in Naivasha,” said Maxine.

She added. “I am quite excited because we have just had a first-ever women’s rally in Kenya. It was great to see new people coming and not just the usual faces.”

During the race dubbed ‘Lioness Rally’, she defeated household name Tash Tundo, who was navigated by Chantal Young, by 13.1 seconds at the end of the competition.

Leading officials

The inaugural competition attracted a large number of spectators with Chief Executive Officer of Safari Rally Phineas Kimathi and Jim Kahumbura, the Safari Rally Event Director, among the leading officials who attended the competition.

Wahome who started riding at the age of 12 on an 85cc KTM Bike and eventually progressed to a 250-cc bike feels that there is certainly more to come from her.

She made her rallying debut at the WRC Safari Rally in Naivasha in 2021 although she never scored WRC points. During the rally championship, Maxine was navigated by Chantal Young and made history by being the only all-women crew in the race. She feels her career is now on an upward trajectory.

“I had just switched from two wheels to four, starting with autocross before the big call to do the Safari came through,” she narrated.  After competing at the Safari, Wahome went on to compete at the Kenya National Rally Championship (KNRC) with her best finish being a fifth spot placing at the Machakos Rally.

She also went on to compete in the Rwanda leg of the African Rally Championship. She was sixth out of the 11 drivers who completed the demanding rally.

She says she enjoys the switch from autocross to the rally and hopes that day by day she will get better.

“I participated in both local and international races in Africa. I got introduced to motorsport by my family – my father Jimmy Wahome was a rally driver when I was young, my cousins also used to ride bikes as well. One day I asked my dad for a bike and he agreed – that was the beginning of my motocross career,” divulged, the 27-year-old who was born in a family of motorsport enthusiasts.

That she has competed amongst men mostly has contributed to her sheer fighting spirit.

“Even when I was doing autocross, it was always against men, to a bigger extent that made me develop a thick skin and generally increased my fighting spirit.

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