Jeremiah Wahome won this season's opening leg of the Kenya National Rally Championship after edging a class field in Machakos on Sunday.

Wahome navigated by Victor Okundi edged fellow FIA young star McRae Kimathi by 7.04mins to win his first ever major national championship event.

Kimathi, who entered the local rally this year after a stint in the Junior World Rally Championship last season, showed glimpses of brilliance as he brought home his Ford Fiesta in second place.

Jasmeet Chana, driving his usual Mitsubishi Evolution 10, completed the podium places in third.

It was a good outing for the Ford Fiesta as Yassin Nasser finished fourth, with former Two-wheel KNRC champion Eric Bengi rounding the top five finishers in his Mitsubishi Evolution 10.

Subaru Impreza's Kush Patel and Rajveer Thethy took 6th and 7th place respectively, with Rashminder Barbra winning the Classic category being the only entrant.

In the Two-wheel category, Daren Miranda got the season off to a great start as she brought home her Subaru Impreza in the first position.

Rio Smith closed the top ten as the opening leg set early pace for the season.

With this year's relaxation of rules, more categories were added to the season including Rally2, Rally 3 and KNRC Junior Championship.

Group S car's scope was expanded and new Group S Plus class introduced.