Maxine Wahome holds steady in WRC3

Making her WRC3 debut on home soil, Wahome topped the all-Ford Fiesta Rally3 field by 25.6sec ahead of FIA Junior WRC regular and fellow Kenyan Mcrae Kimathi. 

After holding fifth following Thursday’s super special stage in Nairobi, 26-year-old Wahome steadily rose up the ranks on Friday morning and had seized the lead by midday service as her rivals hit trouble.

Jeremy Wahome was the first driver to encounter problems after bowing out with an engine control unit issue on the Loldia opener. 

Next to perish was early leader Diego Dominguez. The Paraguayan opened up a 1min 36sec advantage on the first three dusty speed tests but came unstuck in Kedong 1 when he suffered a heavy front-end impact and retired. The same stage caught out Hamza Anwar, who dropped from second to last after getting stuck in the unforgiving fesh-fesh sand.

Wahome was left scrapping with Kimathi, who was made to pay for his tardiness. He arrived late for morning service and then early for the second time control, incurring 3min 30sec in penalties.

Dominguez is expected to restart on Saturday in third spot, 35min 14sec behind Wahome and 2min 7sec clear of fourth-placed Anwar.

• Full coverage from Safari Rally Kenya is available on WRC+ All Live here, including every stage broadcast as it happens as well as key interviews, features and expert analysis from the service park.