30 years ago: the last victory of an African driver in WRC at the Safari Rally

To find the last victory of an African driver in the world rally championship, we have to go back 30 years, to 1994. When Ian Duncan won the Rally Safari, no one suspected that, even 30 years later, he would still be the last driver from the African continent to have won a racing event. WRC. Return to March 31, 1994, for the start of the 22nd Safari Rally…

This season is punctuated by the battle between Carlos Sainz and Didier Auriol for the world championship. The Frenchman will emerge as the big winner and will be crowned WRC champion. However, victory at the Safari Rally was not for them, far from it. A local driver, who knew the terrain by heart, wanted victory at all costs that year. And for good reason, the 3497km of the race are in Kenya, Ian Duncan's country of origin.

Already, at the time, he was a particularly seasoned driver since he was a four-time national rally champion at the age of 33 (the Kenyan won a total of 5 in his career). Since 1983, Duncan has participated in every round of the African Rally. He had already been on the podium in 1993, taking a good 3rd place. This year, the ambition is clear: the top step of the podium. An achievable performance since Ian Duncan rides with a Toyota Celica Turbo 4WD, the best machine for Safari Rally conditions.

Toyota Celica Turbo 4WD (ST185). ©Derrapagens

A royal road opens before Duncan

The start of this 22nd edition is at home, in Nairobi, his hometown. On the first two stages, Ian Duncan is dominated by the other Toyota drivers, Didier Auriol and Juha Kankkunen. Despite this domination over the first few hundred kilometers, luck is on the Kenyan's side this year: Auriol's right front shock absorber gives way and the suspension also ends up breaking. The French driver will not win the victory, he is more than an hour behind. Kankkunen then went on the attack and increased his lead of 6 minutes over Duncan to 13 in three sectors.

Attacking too much sometimes leads to making mistakes, and that's exactly what will happen to Juha Kankkunen during the second stage. The Finn takes a bump at 180km/h and immediately abandons the race. “There was a bump that wasn’t in the notes. He explains after his accident. My car went flying, fell on its side and rolled over.” The two Toyota favorites are out, with only Ian Duncan remaining to bring home points for the Japanese brand in the battle against Ford and Subaru.

At the end of the second stage, Duncan is in the lead. He feels that there is something to be done but the Kenyan now has enormous pressure on him. “It’s getting serious now. No more laughing. I feel the pressure. All the weight is on my shoulders since there is only one Toyota in the lead." admits Duncan at the end of the second special.

A victory for history

For the remaining 1375 kilometers, the local hero will not let go of the lead of the race. A cruising pace, without too many pitfalls (Duncan will hit an impala, a sort of small gazelle, but which will not cause him to lose too much time). At 33, Ian Duncan won a round of the World Rally Championship. He is the third African in history to achieve this performance. He finished ahead of Kenjiro Shinozuka, more than 25 minutes ahead. It’s hard to do better than a WRC victory when you’re just a local driver…

“Winning the Safari Rally was incredible. It was something we had been trying to do for years and years. We did a lot of work with Toyota and I thank them. These are really good memories, which I will never forget", the former pilot told a Kenyan channel in 2021.

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