Sachania's double-faced approach to Safari Rally revealed

Having scooped local honours by winning the Kenya Division 3 and Group N titles, Nikhil Sachania has set his sights on gunning for an international title at the 2025 FIA World Rally Championship (WRC) Safari Rally.

Having acquired a new M-Sport Ford factory prepared Rally3 car, Sachania will enter the WRC3 competition in this year’s event that runs from Thursday 20 to Sunday 23 March in Nairobi and Naivasha.

The FIA WRC3 is a support championship of the WRC whose calendar consists of the same rallies and stages as the main series.

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Entry is limited to cars that are based on production models and homologated under Group Rally3 rules of the world motorsport governing body.

Sachania—who is paraplegic—returns to the Safari having crashed his Mitsubishi Lancer Evo X car last year.

Speaking to safarirally.ke, the Kenyan, who will be navigated by Deep Patel, has put the nightmare behind him and is now eagerly relishing the prospect of going for the WRC3 title on home soil.

Besides that, Sachania is also planning to make a strong impression in the African Rally Championship (ARC) this year.

"For us; the main points are for the ARC since the WRC and ARC are being put together. So, our contention for WRC3 would be to get a podium, but then again, the essence will be to score as many ARC points as possible,” the KCB Rally Team driver remarked.

Sachania will take on compatriot and youngster Rio Smith and the all-Indian crew of Naveen Pulligilla and Musa Sherif in the WRC3 category.

"Our aim this year will be to concentrate on the ARC. We have the Fiesta and I think we have a better chance of getting some more seat -time outside Kenya. I mean, I have been driving the Kenyan leg for about 12 years now, so I would like to experience the roads out there,” he added.

His quest to drive a WRC3 machine has been quite the journey.

When he acquired the car last year, he had FIA technical experts come down to inspect it after he had fitted his hand-controls.

"They approved all the safety aspects of the car and gave us a certificate which enabled us to take part in the Rwanda Mountain Gorilla Rally ARC round of last year. So, all documentation is valid currently, and we look forward to taking part in Safari in our new machine,” Sachania disclosed.

He is now buzzing at the chance of driving a similar car to that of the world-beating professional drivers from overseas who will be competing in the main WRC1 category.

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"So it'll be nice to hear how they (M-Sport Ford) feel the car is running and how they do their set up. So it'll be nice to get advice from them and then of course, to learn from other (international) drivers how their cars, which are the same as ours, operate. I mean, not all of them will share secrets, but it's nice just to get the conversation going,” the 36-year-old explained.