Rochdale rally driver makes Junior World Rally Championship

Date published: 28 February 2023

An up-and-coming rally driver from Rochdale has made his Junior World Rally Championship debut representing Kenya, after a phenomenal performance in 2022.

Hamza Anwar, 24, grew up in Rochdale where he attended Oulder Hill High School and lived in the north west until he was 21.

After winning the African Junior Rally Championship and being named the third-best rally driver in Africa, Anwar earned a spot in this year’s Junior World Rally Championship (JWRC). He is also understood to be the first British Asian competing in the championship and is one of Kenya’s latest promising young talents.

This year’s Junior WRC calendar comprises five challenging rallies on a mixture of surfaces. It gets underway on the snow and ice of Rally Sweden (February) before heading to Croatia (April) – home to some blisteringly-quick asphalt roads.

Gruelling gravel tests in Italy (June), Estonia (July) and Greece (September) round out the season, with the bonus incentive of double points on offer at the final round.

In his European debut earlier this month, Anwar and co-driver Adnan Din completed Rally Sweden in a Ford Fiesta Rally 3 with a time of 3:04:12.5.

All photos courtesy of WRC Promoter.