Rwanda crew ready for WRC Safari Rally challenge

• Giancarlo Davite will fly Rwanda’s flag
• He will drive a Ford Fiesta Rally2 car
• The Safari Rally is scheduled for June 22-25

With an apparently insatiable appetite for success, Giancarlo Davite has displayed the elegant livery that his Ford Fiesta Rally2 will wear during the 2023 WRC Safari Rally Kenya slated for June 22-25.

The Rwandese speed-merchant presented the new look of his luminous marque brimming with confidence ahead of the grueling 19-stage showpiece that will traverse world-famous stages around Lake Naivasha and Elementeita.

His sponsors Agrotech appear on both sides of the door while his other partners like Osho Chemicals Ltd occupy the space on the bonnet.

This year’s Safari will feature 10 World Rally Team priority 1 cars and 12 Priory 2 entrants and 5 priority 3 contraptions.

With a more elegant look than his previous years of Subaru STI and most recently Mitsubishi Evolution X, Giancarlo believes his new project will enable him to run the Kenyan premier event competitively against regional and European adversaries.

“Today we unveil our Ford Fiesta Rally2 for the next WRC Safari. For the third time running, we shall be competing in a WRC  event, the legendary Kenyan round. And this year we decided to make an upgrade. We entered a Rally2, just behind the most famous Rally1 cars.”

Navigator Sylvia Vindevogel who has called Davite’s notes from 2005 sounded quite febrile: “In a few days to the Safari, our Little Bee is looking like our sweet Miss EvoX. Giancarlo and Myself will be taking part in the coming event in partnership with Asad Anwar, Hamza Anwar and a good deal of sponsors, I close one year of bad luck with loads of optimism and looking forward to the fesh fesh dust on areas around Lake Naivasha.”

Looking forward to experience 

Team Rwanda’s car

Giancarlo is no stranger to Kenyan gravel roads having tackled his first Safari with compatriot with Savio Muhigana in  2004.

But the rally gods haven’t been kinder to him either as he has recorded multiple retirements in 2009, 2012, 2013, 2021 and 2022. He has nevertheless erased the jinx with two top 10 finishes in 2019 (7th) in an EVOX and 2004 (9th) in a VW Golf GTI.

Giancarlo continued: “We know the Kenyan roads. We know how to attack and manage them. There will be only one thing to do, reach the end and the result will follow!  Remember, it is Safari, it is not over until it’s over.”

Giancarlo is listed among the 14-Rally 2 cars alongside Karan Patel’s Ford Fiesta, Oliver Solberg in a Skoda Fabia Evo, Polish star Kajetan Kajetanowicz in a Škoda Fabia RS, Grégoire Munster (Ford Fiesta), Carl “Flash” Tundo (Skoda), Piero Canobbio of Kilifi in a Hyundai i20 NG Rally 2, Aakif Virani in a Skoda Fabia and Czech’s Martin Prokop among others

KCB are the official banking partners of the 2023 WRC Safari Rally; also with a three-car line-up in Karan Patell, Evans Kavisi and Nikhil Sachania. Other sponsors supporting the Safari include Talanta Hela, KWS, Cfao Motors (formerly Toyota Kenya) and Government of Kenya (GOK) who are the main sponsors.