Karan Patel warns lack of local rally competition could impact 2025 Safari Rally results

Reigning African Rally Champion, Karan Patel, has voiced concerns over the lack of active and competitive local rally championships, warning that it could hurt Kenya’s chances in this year’s WRC Safari Rally.

The KCB-sponsored driver, who has dominated both local and continental rallies, believes the lack of high-level competition is making drivers complacent.

“The ramifications of not having a good local event is that basically drivers become complacent. For me, with all due respect to every driver in the country, I have stopped taking part in the local events because I just end up being all alone in my own race; which is not fun. There is no one to really push you to fight for the win and hopefully with the young kids on the block who are upcoming, there will be some good competition going forward,” bemoaned Patel. 

Patel, alongside his longtime navigator Tauseef Khan, will be competing in a Skoda Fabia R5 and is currently fine-tuning the car ahead of testing later this week.

“On preparations, we are still underway. We will probably install the rebuilt engine into the car this week. We've not tested the car yet, although it should be up and running by this week and we will probably be testing on the weekend. We've not made any major modifications on the car and yes, it's the same car that we were using last year.”

The 2024 Pearl of Africa champion also praised KCB’s Ksh.209 million sponsorship of the Safari Rally, emphasizing its importance in supporting both drivers and the championship.

“We are thankful to have KCB on board again this year. It's been a very good relationship that we've had over the years and we are looking forward to continuing (it) in the long run. I have plans to race for as long as possible and having KCB on board will help us compete against the best. Let's see what the future holds but for us it's very important that KCB have been with us,” noted Patel. 

KCB has sponsored Patel, rising star Tinashe Gatimu, Evans Kavisi, and paraplegic driver Nikhil Sachania.