Maxine Wahome will be the only female driver in the upcoming WRC Safari Rally.
She will take on the Naivasha-Nakuru route together with her co-driver Chantal Young in their Subaru N10.
Maxine is one of the four rally drivers sponsored by Betika.
But Maxine is not new to rallying. She has in the past rallied on her KTM bike in the Auto Cross and graduate to four wheels of a Subaru Impreza GC8.
The 26-year-old has also been sponsored by Ashanti Q and Isuzu Kenya.
In an interview with Capital Sport, she spoke of her love for rallying.
“I started riding at the age of 12 on an 85cc KTM Bike and eventually progressed to a 250-cc bike. I participated on both local and international races in Africa,” she said.
Her family introduced her to motorsport since her father Jimmy Wahome was a rally driver.
“I got introduced to motorsport by my family – my father Jimmy Wahome was a rally driver when I was young, my cousins also used to ride bikes as well. One day I asked my dad for a bike and he agreed – that was the beginning of my motocross career.”
At the time, she had learnt how to drive a manual car and decided to make the switch to four wheels.
It has been joyous for her with a lot of learning to do when it comes to “the hand brake turns and left foot braking”.
She has made a lot of adjustments in her life to remain fit.
“As a woman it was difficult racing against men as they are much stronger than me – And because of that I had to train harder and smarter. I stopped eating red meat and changed my whole diet to keep fit. I was at the track for practice at least three or four times a week, and at the gym five times a week,” she said.
Maxine is a nursery school teacher who teaches kids between the age of 2-6 at a Montessori School in Nairobi.
With WRC series, she hopes to leave a mark as the best rally driver in Africa.
“I want to be the biggest Rally Driver in Kenya, Africa and in the world.”