Dakar champion enters East African Classic Motor Rally - The 2011 Dakar Rally champion, Nasser Al Attiah, is among the 60 drivers who have confirmed participation in this year's Kenya Airways East African Classic Motor Rally, the organisers said Thursday.
Event Director Surinder Thethy told the press that the organisers were impressed by the big interest the event has generated, citing the fact that 60 drivers have signed up for the rally eight months to the event, while another 10 are in the reserve list.
Attiah, a Qatari, also competes in the World Rally Championships for the Qatari World Rally Team.
Thethi said the entry for for this year's event, slated to start on 21 November, is the highest since the rally was first held in 2003.
The deadline for signing up for this year's event is 1 October.
Drivers signed up are from Kenya, Tanzania, Sweden, Britain, Belgium, Switzerland, Germany, Holland, Austria, Monaco, South Africa, Argentina, Mexico, Australia and the US.
Those on the reserve list will only get a chance to race if the drivers ahead of them drop out, said the organisers.
This is a wonderful situation to be in. It is very pleasing not only for the organising team but also for our sponsors, Kenya Airways, who have been right behind us all the way,' said Thethi at the launch ceremony at the Kenya Airways headquarters in Nairobi, where the airline gave out Sh20 million sponsorship cheque.
This year's event has attracted Posrche entries, probably inspired by Porsche's breakthrough victory in the 2011 Safari Classic when a Porsche 911 finally won a Safari Rally after attempting the feat since 1968.
Bjorn Waldergaard, ex-World Rally Champion, four times winner of the original Safari Rally and the driver of the winning Porsche in 2011, is back in a similar car to defend his title.
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The 4,300 mile, nine -day event, will see the drivers do battle through roads and mountains of Kenya and Tanzania.
Speaking at the function , Kenya Airways Managing Director/ CEO, asked the organisers to consider spreading the event to the five East African Community (EAC) instead of confining it to Kenya and Tanzania.
Pana 28/02/2013