Kenya's Hamza Anwar makes junior WRC lineup for 2023

Africa junior rally champion Hamza Anwar will be the only African representative competing at this year's World Rally Championship (WRC) junior category as action gets underway in Sweden.

Anwar is set to compete inside Europe for the first time in his career.

He is one of Kenya’s latest promising young talents and made his WRC debut at Safari Rally in 2021, steering a Fiesta Rally3 to finish second in class.

In 2022 he retired in the race won bby Maxine Wahome with Jeremy Wahome coming in second while McRae Kimathi completed a Kenyan podium in the WRC3 category. 

This year’s Junior WRC calendar comprises five challenging rallies on a mixture of surfaces. It gets underway on the snow and ice of Rally Sweden before heading to Croatia, home to some blisteringly-quick asphalt roads.

Gruelling gravel tests in Italy, Estonia and Greece round out the season, with the bonus incentive of double points on offer at the final round.junior WRC lineup for 2023.

Up for grabs is a life-changing prize consisting of arrive and drive outings on four European WRC rounds in 2024 with an M-Sport Ford Fiesta Rally2 car (the next step up from Rally3), plus a tyre support package courtesy of Pirelli. 

The eventual champion will also get the chance to test on the Monday prior to each event to gain more experience.

As confirmed by WRC earlier this week, William Creighton starts the year as one of the frontrunning favourites with a handy two years of Junior WRC experience already under his belt. 

But Creighton isn’t the only driver making a return to the championship. WRC fans may be unfamiliar with Laurent Pellier, but the Frenchman currently has a 100 per cent winning record in the Junior WRC.

Pellier, 27, made a one-off appearance at the 2016 Tour de Corse where he shocked many by winning the category. His assault on the 2023 series comes courtesy of M-Sport’s ‘Ladder of Opportunity’ prize package in partnership with M-Sport Poland, Pirelli and ERC Promoter, which Pellier duly earned by dominating last year’s Junior ERC championship.

WRC Junior crews 20223

1.William Creighton (IRL)/ Liam Regan (IRL)

2.Laurent Pellier (FRA)/ Marine Pelamourgues (FRA)

3.Grégoire Munster (LUX)/ Louis Louka (BEL)

4.Eamonn Kelly (IRL)/ Conor Mohan (IRL)

5.Tom Rensonnet (BEL)/ Loïc Dumont (BEL)

6.Diego Dominguez (PRY)/ Rogelio Peñate (ESP)

7.Raúl Hernández (ESP)/ Rodrigo Sanjuan (ESP)

8. Roberto Blach (ESP)/ Mauro Barreiro (ESP)

9. Hamza Anwar (KEN)/ Adnan Din (KEN)