Fresh impetus for Anwar as 2025 Safari Rally edges closer
Reading Time: 2min | Thu. 27.02.25. | 16:20
The driver was the first Kenya to run a full season of Junior WRC in 2023 after clinching the ARC Junior title
The 2025 FIA World Rally Championship (WRC) Safari Rally-Kenya will see a field of 50 rev off on March 20 with Kenya’s Hamza Anwar hoping to ruffle some feathers.
Hamza, son of the legendary Azar Anwar, a retired five-time national champion, is seeking to step up from the WRC 3 category he won last year to the competitive WRC 2 category this year.
“It is going to be an interesting one, with the big dogs coming to play in big dog cars, a big battle awaits,” Hamza told organizers of the global event that doubles as the Africa Rally Championship (ARC) Kenyan leg and the Kenya National Rally Championship (KNRC) opening leg.
The 26-year-old navigated by Adnan Din comes loaded with experience, having run a full season of Junior WRC in 2023 after clinching the ARC Junior title.
“I have plans to upgrade to a Rally 2 car and I’m overly excited about it. I have been in Rally 3 for four years now, but it gets to a point in a career when you feel there is a need for fresh impetus, so I need an upgrade,” Hamza opened up.
He continued, “You know the butterflies are still there, but we are preparing well, we are watching our boards, going through notes from previous years, where there are a couple of changes and reversed stages in this rally of 2025. So, we are preparing as much as we can to attack the Safari.”
In his WRC Junior full campaign in 2023, Hamza took part in the EKO Acropolis Rally Greece, Rally Estonia WRC, Rally Italia Sardegna, WRC Croatia Rally, and the all-snow WRC Rally Sweden.
The WRC2 Challenger category is open to drivers who have not previously won a WRC-level title in Rally2 machinery and has attracted some top drivers led by Kajetan Kajetanowicz and long-time co-driver Maciej Szczepaniak who kick off their season in Kenya.
