Rally driver Eric Bengi living a double life as he juggles between passion and career

One of Kenya’s Premier Class driver featuring in the upcoming World Rally Championship (WRC) Safari Rally is a top lawyer who has won many cases in his career.

However, one case he is yet to win outside the corridors of justice is the treacherous Safari Rally.

Eric Bengi will be going flat out as he pushes the gas pedal hard in the hope of finding a winning formula in the global event which is set to take place in Kenya in June 23-26.

Kenya National Rally Championship (KNRC) Premier Class driver Eric Bengi reckons that it’s a dream come true for majority of local drivers in making debut at the WRC Safari Rally set for June 24-27 in Kenya. @OfficialWRC @wrcsafarirally #SafariRallyKenya #WRC pic.twitter.com/nnn8G1sbjm

— RALLY_KENYA Media (@rally_kenya) May 24, 2021

This year Bengi and his navigator Mindo Gatimu became the first all-indigenous Kenyan team to compete in the East African Safari Classic, one of the nation’s most celebrated rally events

“There’s room for development, and I think with more and more events coming up we can develop new talent,” he said

The East African Safari Classic Rally is the world’s toughest historic rally with its history traced back to the 1950’s.

The first winner of the Rally by then known as East Africa Coronation Safari Rally was Alan Dix with a Volkswagen Beetle in an event that attracted 90 rally drivers. 

This year Baldev Chager was crowned the East African Safari Classic Rally champion. Chager, who has won the Kenya National Rally Championship titles on four different occasions in addition to winning the Safari Rally on three different occasions, won his first ever World-famous Marathon Raid Rally in February.

According to CNN segment of Inside Africa,when Eric Bengi was a boy, his father would wake him in the dead of night just to see the cars. Around 3 a.m. they would arrive at his village, Chogoria in central Kenya. In the wet — it was usually wet — the cars would fly past, sometimes sideways, headlights blaring, before roaring off into the dark. No sooner had they come than they’d gone, but the impression they left on the young boy lasted much longer than the tire tracks in the mud.

The graduate of the Abdul Sidi Rally Academy and Mitsubishi Lancer Evo10 driver believes the comeback of the fabled Safari Rally to the FIA World Rally Championship(WRC) calendar is a perfect opportunity to reignite local drivers’ talent.

The former KNRC Two Wheel, Division One and Group N Champion also believes racing against the big boys of WRC will trigger the much-needed gusto for locals to attack.

“I know for sure that the WRC drivers will whip us out clean but it will be a learning lesson to come back, reset and reflect on what makes them tick and how differently they do their things. I’m sure we’ll all be eager to see what it is that we can learn to become better motorsport people,” added the National Championship Premier Class driver.

Rally racing is experiencing a resurgence in Kenya. The WRC returned after a 19-year absence with the 2021 Safari Rally Kenya, which has since been extended through to 2026.

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