Phineas Kimathi roars back to Safari Rally

By JAMES WAINDI

Rally driver Phineas Kimathi will be making a return to rallying after almost a year’s absence and eyes a podium finish at the Safari Rally this weekend.

Kimathi made the announcement after a testing session in Ngong with his highly technical Subaru Impreza N10 developing 300 break horse power and fine tuned to world rally championship standards by Dave Richard’s UK-based engineering firm Prodrive which prepared Subaru cars for the World Championship for 18 years.

Last year Kimathi made a cameo appearance in the Safari and was destined for a podium finish before the Impreza’s electrical system packed up at 220kph.

In Meru round of the KNRC, however, he raffled feathers sharing stage fastest times with the best boys in the trade until he was told to ease off in last stages by team manager Wachira Waruru.

He ended up in a meritable fourth position after an 8-year absence.

Kimathi, on-board the Prodrive tuned machine will let it go on the accelerator cable. Budget is not an issue.

He is sponsored by Valencia Inn Mombasa and the management’s message is simple.

"Bring the car in one piece and on the podium’, said Valencia Hospitality flagship finance director Jane Kimathi.

"The Impreza will be impressing. We were cautious in Meru after an eight-year absence. In Kajiado we will be gunning for the best," said Kimathi, a hotelier by profession having honed his career in UK and then at State-run African Tours and Hotels. He is also the best example of a sportsman who has inter-faced sports and business.

As the CEO of Valencia flagship dealing in hotels, restaurants and industrial catering, the management have given him the onus of roping in sporting discipline in the company’s operations.

Kimathi was the first driver in the world to earn World Rally Championship points for Hyundai in 1999 in the Formula 2 category.

Hyundai hired him to help them develop the Elantra World Rally Car, hopping between Nairobi and Johannesburg.

They finally produced a WRC which former Safari Rally Champion Juha Kankkunen drove on the 2002 Safari.

In 1993 Mazda Japan hired him to drive the 323 to a finish, the first one for Mazda in 23 years in the Safari.