When McRae Kimathi finally got the chance to fulfill a dream and compete in a World Rally Championship, Sweden’s snow and ice was probably not what he had in mind.

This weekend, the 27-year-old competes in it – in the category Junior WC in Rally Sweden.

“They told me how to make – what do you call it? – a snowball?” says Kimathi question mark. “Yes, that. And so we had this match where you, like, make a ball with snow and then you try to hit each other.

“It did not really make sense to me.”

This weekend’s Rally Sweden is a great chance for three British drivers – Elfyn Evans from Toyota and Craig Breen and Gus Greensmith, both in M-sport Ford – to try to break through in the title race in the Rally1 category.

But Kimathi, in his Ford Fiesta, will attract as much attention as he gets used to studded tires and snow banks in -20C temperatures near distant Umeå.

“It’s the first time I’ve seen snow in my life,” he says. “But I liked driving it with studded tires because it has so much grip compared to a regular gravel rally.”

Kimathi is the only black driver to compete in the race, and indeed throughout the junior WRC season.

His presence at the event has attracted racist comments online, leading to condemnation from the FIA’s governing body, which said: “There is no place for it in our sport or society.”

An affiliation in the sport

Kimathi’s background in training on the vast sandy landscapes of Kenya may seem far from the rally’s European heart, but Kenya’s Safari Rally is considered a classic world rally event and returned to the 2021 calendar after a 19-year absence.

“There is so much space [in Kenya] that you can actually take out your rally car for a weekend, have fun, go to the highlands and just enjoy, he says.

“There are great roads there, so you can play with your car and perfect your trade.”

Kimathi has carried the presence of the sport all his life – he is named after the British rally legend Colin McRae, the 1995 world champion.

“I was born just after he won Network Q RAC Rally 94 – he won his home rally for the first time,” he says.

“So I think my dad decided ‘OK, this is going to be a hotshot’ so I decided to name myself McRae.

“What really stands out about Colin McRae was his commitment. He had a huge commitment that I did not see from any other driver, and sometimes with that he had a massive accident. It was just a win-or-bust strategy. . “

Kimathi wants his attitude to be a little more measured, just like his other idol – nine-time champion Sebastien Loeb, and he intends to reflect that by simply getting to the end in Sweden.

“Of course it would be really nice to go for it, but I also have to be realistic and give myself time to actually grow,” he says.

“The roads are so fast compared to what I experienced in Safari, where the rally mainly just survives. So it’s something new for me to pick up the pace because the roads let you drive so fast, while in Kenya it is a demolition rally So I have to change my mindset. “

And with good support, when Kimathi finds more of that speed, he could be one of the first black drivers to win a top-level WRC event outside the Safari rally.

“That’s why I’m actually here,” he says. “I want [rallying] to be a full-time career.

“I know it’s going to be very difficult because of where I’m coming from – that’s why I need to learn a lot.”