McRae Kimathi anticipating a tough Rally Poland

Kenya's rally driver McRae Kimathi is expecting a tough outing in Europe this weekend at Rally Poland alongside his navigator Mwangi Kioni.

The 27-year-old is the only African driver on the start list of the three-day contest that starts at Mikołajki on Thursday evening and includes two days of competition on gravel roads lined up on Saturday and Sunday over 14 stages covering a total of 188.10 kilometers.

Despite the intensity of the challenge ahead of him, the Kenyan wants to use Rally Poland to prepare for his next round of the Junior World Rally Championship (JWRC) set for Estonia next month.

He has termed it a high-speed rally and anticipates that the jumps will make it difficult for him in his Ford Fiesta R3.

“Poland is a great, beautiful country with nice weather. We had a test on Monday on very fast roads with smooth gravel. It’s going to be very challenging as it’s a high-speed rally with lots of jumps which will be difficult for me. I plan to use this rally as a good platform for Rally Estonia, learn how to drive on these roads, and have as much fun as possible,” Kimathi is quoted saying by Nation Sport.

Rally Estonia will be the seventh round of the World Rally Championship, and runs from July 14 to 17, coming two weeks after the June 23-26 Safari Rally.

Kimathi will also compete in Greece’s Acropolis Rally from September 8 to 11 to crown his five-event 2022 JWRC circuit that also took him to Sweden, Croatia, and Portugal.

He made his debut in the World Rally Championship’s feeder series at Rally Sweden before driving on tarmac for the first time in Croatia.