Two-time Ugandan National rally champion Yasin Nasser will continue his pursuit for a WRC Safari Rally finish when the World Rally Championship event returns to Kenya next week from 20-23rd March.
Nasser and co-driver Ali Katumba will be registering their third attempt at the WRC event. However, their first two outings were rather undesirable.
In 2021, when Safari Rally regained its status as a world championship event, Yasin Nasser was the only Ugandan categorized in WRC with his Subaru GVB.
His contention did not go passed leg two after suffering an engine knock in stage seven on Saturday.
In 2024, a heavy roll in the Kedong stage not only took him out of the rally but also out for the whole season after the Ford Fiesta rally2 suffered huge damage.
“That incident in Kedong took us by surprise. We couldn’t believe the extent of the damage when we got out of the car.
“We were doing a second pass on Kedong but because of the impact of the previous cars; especially the WRC cars, a ditch was created in the fesh fesh. We could not anticipate it in our notes and that explained the roll,” said Yasin.
The Moil Rally Team returns to the prestigious event with the Ford Fiesta rally2 with the same target of registering a WRC safari rally finish.
“We are not about to give up on Safari. Our preparations for the event remain the same as before and we are hopeful that this time we shall do much better,” said Yasin.
“Nemo (Ford) is firmly back on track. The team is ready. We shall have our own race and pray that we register a decent finish at the event of it,” he added.
Yasin will not only be on the search for the WRC safari rally finish but also chasing for Africa rally championship points.
This year’s Safari Rally will double as the first round of the Africa Rally Championship.
“Our focus is not yet so much on ARC. What we are sure of is that, once we get a good finish, it will play for both sides; a WRC finish and ARC points,” he said.
Yasin however admits that a coveted ARC title this season would complement his rally career on top of the ARC2 title and multiple Uganda and Tanzania national titles.
