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Challenge Rally, Laureen Marufu is craving for more and she now wants to venture into the tough world of motor rallying outside Zimbabwe, reports Collin Matiza.
Marufu (33), who took up the sport of motor racing at the beginning of last year, becoming the first black female Zimbabwean to do so, has been a success story in the country’s premier motorsport event – the Toyota Zimbabwe Challenge Rally – in 2010 and 2011.
In her debut appearance in the Challenge Rally in August last year, Marufu surprised all and sundry when she drove her Toyota Corolla to a ninth place finish.
That was a phenomenal achievement by a rookie, and a female driver for that matter, who had been in the tough male-dominated sport for less than a year.
Marufu returned at the weekend to compete in her second Toyota Zimbabwe Challenge Rally, competing in the N2 Class, and she was among the 16 starters of local and continental drivers from fellow African countries such as Rwanda, South Africa and Zambia.
In fact, there were only two female entries in this year’s event – Marufu and fellow Zimbabwean Michelle Yorke, who was also in a Toyota Corolla.
And Marufu proved that her performance in last year’s Challenge Rally was no fluke as she “stood her ground” during the weekend’s event in which she took a credible sixth-place finish.
Marufu, who had Clint Ashdown as her navigator, was just a joy to watch and impressive during the three days of racing in which she came out unscathed, winning the N2 Class category in the process.
She was also classified as the first female driver home on Sunday after Yorke crashed out of the race the previous day.
And after producing another awe-inspiring performance at this year’s Toyota Zimbabwe Challenge Rally, Marufu, who raced under Team Amara, has now set her sights on competing in “two or three more races” outside Zimbabwe this year. She said she wants to start by competing in the second round of this year’s African Rally Championship – the Sasol South Africa Rally – which will be held in Nelspruit, 350km outside Johannesburg, from April 15 to 17.