Back to News
Former World Rally Champion, Stig Blomqvist, returns to the East African Safari Classic Rally this year, leading a four-car entry by Sweden’s Team Tidö Race4Health in 911s built here at Wardington.
Race4Health is a fundraising group which to date has raised over 2 million Swedish Krona for charitable projects across East Africa and in Sweden, including the highly successful Race4Health eyewear redistribution operation. Underpinning Team Tidö’s charitable work is a relentless competitive drive.
Overseen by opticians from Sweden who travel the rally as part of the team, Team Tidö’s eyewear redistribution scheme collects donated spectacles in Sweden and redistributes them to people in remote communities along the rally route. Established in 2013, the Race4Health eyewear redistribution scheme has since restored clear vision to hundreds of people with impaired sight in Kenya and Tanzania. “If you can’t see, you can’t read, then you can’t go to school.”
Having narrowly missed a Safari win with Blomqvist in 2013, Stig and the team returned two years later to claim an emphatic victory, with Tidö driver, Richard Göransson, coming home second overall. While other Tidö crews encountered substantial challenges as part of their rally, all went on to take the chequered flag and complete the event.
“Heading this passionate rally team that has shared so much humanity across East Africa is an honour,” said Blomqvist. “Safari Classic remains the world’s toughest rally and taking part is an incredible challenge. I hope we can recapture our pace from 2015 and add another Swedish win to the history books.”
The 2019 East African Safari Classic Rally runs from November 27th to December 6th. Learn more about Team Tidö Race4Health at facebook.com/Race4Health/.
