Tuta Mionki (born 21 April 1976) [1] is a Kenyan rally driver, co-driver and navigator who was crowned the Kenya Motor Sports Personality of the year 2018. She also holds the Kenya Motor Sports Federation Awards for the best co-driver of the season 2015 (Division 3) and 2016 (2-wheel-drive). Mionki was the first woman rally driver to join the Kenya National Rally Championship (KNRC) Premier Class Motor Rallying. [2]
Mionki was born to Jane Nyaruiru (Wambui) Mionki. [3] She grew up in Thika and attended Gatumaini primary school and Maryhill Girls High School. [4] Mionki later studied at the Catholic University of Eastern Africa and completed her Masters at the University of Nairobi where she majored in human resource management. [4]
Mionki also attended the Abdul Sidi Rally Academy (ASRA). [5] [6]
Mionki as a human resources professional, had previously worked for corporations such as Kenya Airways, British American Tobacco, Java House and ZTE. [4] She then left her job in 2009 to start her own business. [4]
In 2012, she joined racing as a navigator for rally driver Eric Bengi in the Rally Raid. [7] She has since been a co-driver for Victor Okundi, Steve Gacheru, Helen Shiri, Murage Waigwa and Nzioka Waita. [8] [9] She has participated in the 2021 Safari Rally as a co-driver for Nzioka Waita. [10] [11]
In 2016, she won the award for Best Co-Driver (in the 2 wheel drive category). [12] In 2018, Mionki was crowned the Kenya Motorsports Personality of the Year, making her the second woman to be given the award after Anne Teith. [13]
Wales Rally GB was the most recent iteration of the United Kingdom's premier international motor rally, which ran under various names since the first event held in 1932. It was consistently a round of the FIA World Rally Championship (WRC) calendar from the inaugural 1973 season until the rally's final running in 2019, and was also frequently included in the British Rally Championship.
The Safari Rally is an automobile rally held in Kenya. It was first held in 1953 as a celebration of the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II. The event was part of the World Rally Championship from 1973 until 2002, before returning in 2021. It is historically regarded as one of the toughest events in the World Rally Championship, and one of the most popular rallies in Africa. From 2003, a historical event has been held biennially.
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Ian Duncan is one of Kenya's most successful rally drivers. He was Kenyan Rally Champion six times, and achieved outright victory in a World Rally Championship round when he won the 42nd Trustbank Safari Rally in 1994. This was one of seven consecutive top ten finishes in the event from 1990 to 1996, despite its notorious attrition rate.
Daniel Elena also known as "Danos" is a Monégasque rally co-driver working most notably with Sébastien Loeb. Between them the pair have won the World Rally Championship (WRC) nine times with Citroën, later competing with Hyundai. Their 79 wins together make him the co-driver with the most victories in the history of the WRC.
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Lofty Drews is a former rally co-driver from Kenya.
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The 2021 FIA World Rally Championship was the forty-ninth season of the World Rally Championship, a rallying competition organised by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). Teams and crews competed in twelve rallies for the World Rally Championships for Drivers, Co-drivers and Manufacturers. Crews were free to compete in cars complying with World Rally Car, Rally Pyramid and Group R regulations; however, only manufacturers competing with World Rally Cars homologated under regulations introduced in 2017 were eligible to score points in the Manufacturers' championship. The championship began in January 2021 with the Rallye Monte-Carlo and concluded in November 2021 with Rally Monza. The series was supported by WRC2 and WRC3 categories at every round of the championship and by the Junior WRC at selected events.
Nzioka Siwadie Waita is a Kenyan advocate who has served as the 2nd Chief of Staff of Kenya's State House and Head of Kenya's Presidential Delivery Unit since 5 January 2018. He succeeded Joseph Kinyua, who is Kenya's Head of Public Service, at the start of the 2nd term of President Uhuru Kenyatta of the Republic of Kenya. Prior to this appointment, Waita served in the capacity of Deputy Chief of Staff and Deputy Head of the Public Service, deputising Joseph Kinyua in both capacities. And prior to this he served as Secretary, President’s Delivery Unit.
The 2021 FIA WRC3 Championship was the eighth season of WRC3, a rallying championship organised and governed by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile as the third-highest tier of international rallying. It was open to privately entered cars complying with Group Rally2 regulations. The championship began in January 2021 with the Rallye Monte-Carlo and concluded in November 2021 with Rally Monza, running in support of the 2021 World Rally Championship.
The 2021 Safari Rally was a motor racing event for rally cars that was held over four days between 24 and 27 June 2021. It marked the sixty-ninth running of the Safari Rally. The event was the sixth round of the 2021 World Rally Championship, World Rally Championship-2 and World Rally Championship-3. The 2021 event was based in Nairobi in the Nairobi County and was contested over eighteen special stages totalling 320.19 km (198.96 mi) in competitive distance.
Musa Sherif, is an Indian Motorsports professional and seven-time Indian National champion co-driver competing in the Indian National Rally Championship (INRC). Born in Kumble, a small town in Kasargod district, he made his debut in 1993 and became the first Indian to complete 300 rallies, both in two-wheeler and four-wheelers in all formats of rallying including TSD rallies.
The 2023 European Rally Championship is the 71st season of the FIA European Rally Championship, the European continental championship series in rallying. The season is also the tenth following the merge between the European Rally Championship and the Intercontinental Rally Challenge. Hayden Paddon is the reigning drivers champion.
Chandra Kumar Chinnappa born in Bangalore is an Indian motorsports athlete and administrator. He is a racing driver and a rally co-driver. Chinnappa took part in Indian National bike races in various disciplines like rallies, autocross, motocross, hill climb and drag meets, and in later years he became a regular four-wheeler rally co-driver in the Indian National Rally Championship (INRC) for an overall career spanning 34 active years as a competitor. Now he continues as a senior steward of the Federation of Motor Sports Clubs of India (FMSCI).
Orie Rogo Manduli was a Kenyan diplomat, women's activist and journalist. She won the Miss Kenya beauty pageant in 1964 and in 1974, alongside Sylvia Omino was the first woman of African descent and from Kenya to compete in the East African Safari Rally.