Kenyan Driver McRae Kimathi Crashes Out Of Rally de Portugal

Kenyan driver McRae Kimathi has crashed out of WRC Rally de Portugal after his Ford Fiesta 3 hit a rock on Friday evening’s Mortágua (SS8) stage.

Kimathi, went into the stage third overall having had a productive morning, leaving him 2m17.22s behind the rally lead.

Details of what happened are currently limited, but WRC has confirmed that Kimathi and his co-driver Stuart Loudon are out of the rally.

Sami Pajari is currently leading the FIA WRC Junior category after edging Jon Armstrong on Thursday evening’s Coimbra super special, but dropped behind the Ulsterman on Friday’s opener.

Croatia Rally winner Lauri Joona was Pajari’s nearest challenger but the Finn could be leading if his car didn’t develop a problem in SS7.

Estonia’s Robert Virves was the only other finisher as Britain’s William Creighton retired early when he ran out of spare wheels.

The WRC3 is the Junior World Rally Championship category which is run alongside the main WRC and second tier WRC2 classes.

Kimathi qualified for the five-race WRC drive courtesy of his placing as best junior in the 2021 African Rally Championship.