The Mother-Daughter Crew of Carol and Tinashe Gatimu are at it again, this time across borders! 

Tinashe (driver) and her mum Carol will become the first mother and daughter crew to finish a rally outside Kenya when they tackle the third round of the FIA African Rally Championship at the Rwanda Mountain Gorilla Rally (RMGR). 

They have competed and finished three successive WRC Safari Rally editions in the KNRC category, becoming the first mother and daughter team to do so. 

Tinashe and Carol are listed in the national category as part of the KCB Rally team, also made up of Karan Patel and  Nikhil Sachania. 

The KCB stable also has Uganda’s Michael Muluka and Rwanda’s celebrated female rally star Queen Kalimpinya. 

The first and last time an all-Kenyan women’s team entered an ARC was in 2013 when Hellen Shiri, aka Hedgal, and Tuta Mionki took part in the Pearl of Africa Uganda Rally.  

Tuta will be part of this year’s ARC Rwanda event as the FIA Chairman of Stewards, whilst Ida Tallan is the Secretary of the Stewards, and Wambui Kiiru is an Assistant Clerk of the Course.  

The Rwanda Mountain Gorilla Rally is the third leg of the Africa Rally Championship (ARC), programmed for  July 4 to 6, 2025, in Kigali. 

The event has since received a major financial boost from BPR Bank, which has committed Sh 4 million to support the quartet 

Reigning Kenya champion Samman Vohra is also in the mix at this weekend’s iconic Rwanda fixture, officially launched at Akagera Showroom in Kigali. 

The event is being organised by the Rwandese motorsport governing body, the Rwanda Automobile Club. 

Nikhil and Samman will be taking part in the elite ARC category up against Ugandan Yasin Nasser and co-driver Ali Katumba, who top the 2025 ARC standings with 63 points after two rounds in Kenya  ( Safari) and Uganda (Pearl Rally). 

Nasser and Ali are headed to Rwanda with the mission to ruffle feathers behind the wheel of their Ford Fiesta R5. 

Reigning African champions Karan and Tauseef Khan have held the continental championship title for the past two consecutive seasons and are seeking to become the second Kenyans after Manvir Singh Baryan to seal a hat-trick.  

Karan and his partner have literally swept the ground with all and sundry in Rwanda and are also going for their fourth RMGR title. 

The ARC title has been held by some of Africa’s finest, including Alain Ambrosino of Ivory Coast,  Jamie white and Conrad Rautenbach, both from Zimbabwe, and several Kenyan athletes, including legendary Shekhar Mehta,  David Horsey,  Don Smith, Jaspreet Singh Chatthe,  Manvir, and Carl Tundo.  

Patel will be piloting a Skoda Fabia with his co-driver Tauseef. 

The Kenyan duo kickstarted the 2025 season on a jinxed note after they retired from the Kenya Safari Rally in March with mechanical problems.  

The event served as both the opening round of the African Championship and the third round of the FIA World Championship, in which Karan was also entered in the WRC2 support category.