With two World Champs and several Safari old hands among the 52-strong entry list, this year’s East African Safari Classic Rally is shaping up to be one of the best yet, despite weather forecasts predicting that the 19-28 November event across Kenya and Tanzania will be the wettest since 1977.
1979 World Rally Champion and four-time winner of the Safari Rally Björn Waldegård returns in a Porsche 911 (above), while his old rival, and 1984 championship victor, Stig Blomqvist will team up with Ana Goni to drive a Ford Escort RS1800.
Also returning are Quentin and Russell Savage in a Datsun 180B (above), with last-minute entries to leave the start-line (below) at the White Sands hotel in Mombasa including Asad Anwar and Elodie Sampere in their Datsun 260Z.
Other Japanese-built entries include the 260Z of two-time Classic Safari contender Steve Perez, who is in the running for victory after finishing fourth in the 2007 event and moving up a place two years later.
More unusual teams among the entry – which includes eight Datsuns and 21 Porsches – include Germans Gunther Kronseder and Gerd Petzold’s Mercedes-Benz 450SLC, along with Marzio Kravos and Renzo Bernardi’s Ferrari Dino 308GT4, which is being rebuilt in preparation for the event.
See East African Safari Rally for more.
