Maxine Wahome crowned her year of firsts in motorsports with an assured performance and a win in the WRC3 category at the 2022 WRC Safari Rally.
The 25-year-old was making her WRC3 debut on home soil in her new Ford Fiesta and she led through 14 of the 18 stages, clocking 5.20.21 hours and finishing 17th overall.
She looked happy and relaxed at the end but Maxine described the rally as perhaps the toughest of her more than 10 years in motorsports.
“It was a tough rally, an extremely tough one for me with a brand-new car but my goal was to learn the car, take every day step by step. That’s what brought me here,” said Maxine.
She described the stages at Hell’s Gate on Sunday and Kedong, where the infamous fesh fesh troubled drivers, as the toughest.
The last 12 months have been the most eventful in the sport for Maxine, who has joined the FIA Rally Stars this year. She was on the roster of drivers sponsored by Safaricom last year.
Driving a Subaru, she participated in all the rallies on offer in the region, travelling to Rwanda and Uganda, and relished the experience.
She had the best time in the heat of Mombasa and the worst at the Pearl of Africa Rally in Uganda.
While Mombasa was hot but comfortable, Uganda was rainy and wet, and she had never before raced in such circumstances.
“It was just horrendous,” she says.
She was about two kilometres from the end when disaster struck and the whole rear, the back, the shock, the arm and the wheel just came off, leaving her car with three wheels.
“I guess that was the hardest, the most challenging,” she says.
She has enjoyed the experience and is looking forward to replicating it this year as she goes for more rallies – the Africa Rally Championship is next – and she gets to become more familiar with the Ford Fiesta Rally 3. The difference between the Ford and her previous cars is that it’s purposely been built for racing.
She has also learnt her lessons and created a philosophy of work.
“You need to be consistent and try to perform to keep that skill there,” she says.
The Safaricom Newsroom caught up with Maxine after the rally. Watch her video below.
She also spoke to Safaricom Newsroom ahead of the WRC Safari Rally, where she reflected on her year of firsts.
