Jasmeet Chana hoping to steer new machine to Safari Rally success
Reading Time: 3min | Fri. 27.12.24. | 15:36
Chief Technical Engineer Jaswinder expects a trouble-free run on the Safari
Nine months is not a long time for a rally driver fine-tuning a new race car in the run-up to a gigantic rally-sport event.
But Kenya National Rally Championship's Jamseet Chana believes he has ample time to overcome his teething problems well in time for the 2025 5 World Rally Championship (WRC) Safari Rally Kenya which will take place from 20 to 23 March in Nairobi and Naivasha areas.
With an insatiable hunger for success, Jasmeet and his team of mechanics are working round the clock to ensure that the new rally car is in ‘good nick’ well in time.
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Jasmeet jumped ship from a Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 10 to his current state-of-the-art Ford Fiesta R5 and hopes to pull all the stops to meet his team deadlines for Safari including a thorough going-over of the car and test-drive in the new year.
Despite two outings in Kenya and Tanzania in 2024, the switch to the Fiesta appears to have unlocked the much-needed zest for his Rubis-sponsored CRS Racing team to tackle the world-famous Safari.
The Fiesta is being prepared at their family workshop in Parklands, Nairobi under the watchful eye of Jasmeet’s elder brother and Chief Technical Engineer Jaswinder Chana.
The car arrived in the country in March this year, and due to the delay in arrival, Jasmeet was compelled to skip this year’s WRC Safari 2024 as he could not meet the fabled event’s deadlines.
But the 2023 Kenya National Rally Champion is now looking forward to his debut in the WRC2 category as his new car is eligible to score points in WRC’s second-tier support category.
After several months of implementing his technical strategies, Jasmeet is convinced that he will gain ground over some of his R5 race adversaries.
Reflecting on his 2025 WRC Safari dreams, Jasmeet said: “We’ve been trying to master the new car better this year, but unfortunately, we didn’t get to drive it around because there were fewer rallies in Kenya in 2024.
The last event we did was Arusha, it was all about learning the car, as much as we didn’t finish. We also did one event in Nanyuki with the new car.”
After the two events in his new contraption, Chana is glad that his pace is not that bad and that he is overcoming his teething problems day-by-day, while also trying to fathom the dynamics of the car.
“In Arusha, I made a mistake which resulted in my retirement, but it’s a steep learning curve. Safari holds a special place in everyone’s heart; not only me but also the spectators.
It’s like a heritage to us, a festive occasion for us, something we are looking forward to especially now that I am driving an R5,” said Jasmeet who is planning a test drive in January as he anticipates a fairytale Safari participation in his contraption.
“It will be something interesting and it will be good to see the pace we have in the Safari. It will be interesting to compare our pace with that of the World Rally 2 drivers,” Jasmeet added.
Jasmeet’s brother Jaswinder expects a trouble-free run on WRC Safari and is leaving nothing to chance as far as preparations are concerned.
“We are always interacting with M-Sport online and we have received some new upgrades from them to try and calibrate this car to work with this specific engine and chassis number.
Upgrading from Evo to Fiesta has a big difference, we have not had much seat time, but the new car is good and very competitive. The suspension system on the car is different, and has more travel," Jaswinder offered.
