The African McRae aiming to become a WRC pioneer

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

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 competition, the sub-Saharan McRae is blazing a trail for African rally drivers.

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

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Author Tom Howard

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.