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With a scintillating racing career spanning over four decades, 66-year-old Italian navigator Fabrizia Pons continues to appreciate the fabled Safari adventure. 

Pons will be back for her fourth WRC Safari Rally and is among the 34 co-drivers listed for the World Rally Championship (WRC) event slated for Naivasha on June 23-26.  

The veteran Italian will co-drive Kilifi-based KNRC driver Piero Canobbio who is entered for WRC2 in a Hyundai NG i20 Rally2 car. 

Foreigners form the bulk of the 10-car WRC2 field headed by Czech Republic ace Martin Prokop who crashed out of the 2021 event. 

 Kenyan WRC 2 drivers on the entry list include national rally series leader Karan Patel, Aakif Virani and Rasaji Bharij. 

 Pons’ comeback this time around will be a special one in the sense that she will be celebrating her 67th birthday on the closing day of Safari on Sunday, June 26. 

The never-say-never navigator debuted the WRC Safari in 1983 when she guided French legend Michèle Mouton to third overall position in an Audi Quattro A1.  

The following year she returned with Mouton in an Audi Quattro A2 but the all-female crew kissed the Safari goodbye with turbo issues.   Her third and last WRC appearance on Kenyan soil was during the 1998 edition of the Safari where she navigated compatriot Liatti Piero but the all-Italian crew retired with the engine gremlins. 

Thereafter, Pons took part in three East African Safari Classic rallies in 2011, 2015 and most recently 2019.  

Stunt performer

In the 2011 edition of East African Safari Classic, Pons teamed up with American stunt performer Travis Pastrana and Kenyan legend Patrick Njiru in a Race4Change Porsche 911 project.    

Travis drove the 911 for the first half of the Classic event before handing it over to Njiru who went on to retire from the event.   

 In the 2015 and 2019 editions of EA Safari Classic, Pons called the pace-notes for compatriot Gilberto Sandretto in a Porsche 911. 

At the age of 66, Pons remains an active navigator back home. She recently navigated on Rally Storico Campagnolo 2022.  

Pons’ will be returning to the iconic WRC Safari 39 years after her debut Safari in 1983 when she guided Mouton to third overall position.   

She also guided Mouton to second overall position in the 1982 World Rally Championship behind German Walter Rohrl.   

Pons also helped Mouton deliver four WRC victories- the first one being 1981 Rallye Sanremo and thrice in 1982 on Rally de Portugal, Acropolis Rally of Greece and Malboro Rallye do Brasil. 

WRC Safari Rally 2022  is sponsored by KCB Bank Kenya and Toyota Kenya among others.