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I’m currently working on media for Race4Change.org: a really exciting Porsche project. Race4Change.org is a Canadian microfinance organisation sending a million-dollar mission to this year’s East African Safari Classic Rally. The team is racing the Safari Rally to promote the economic empowerment of women in Africa. This week, we announced the first three drivers supporting the 2011 Race4Change campaign.

Leading the Race4Change team is Björn Waldegard, motorsport’s first-ever World Rally Champion and a five-time winner of this historic event: four times on Safari and once on Safari Classic. As with Waldegard’s first Classic Safari victory in 2007, Björn’s son Mathias will navigate.

With Björn will be X-Games legend and NASCAR superhero, Travis Pastrana. “Competing in the East African Safari Rally is something I have always dreamed of doing,” said Travis. “With the support of Race4Change, I’ll finally be able to realise my ambition. Supporting such an important cause makes this event all the more special; I can’t wait to get to Africa in November for Race4Change.”

Third man on the list is Patrick Njiru, former WRC driver and local hero. Driving for Subaru on the 1994 Safari, Njiru took fourth place and won the Group N category, becoming the first indigenous driver to achieve the feat. That year brought Njiru home ahead of future WRC champion, Richard Burns, in a similar car. Patrick finished the car-killing Safari rally an impressive seven times.

“Safari is the ultimate rally challenge,” said Dr Steven Funk, the US-born philanthropist underwriting the 2011 Race4Change effort. The picture above shows him with Njiru at the recent media launch in Nairobi. “Our drivers know what they are letting themselves in for, as does our team. Our mission – to promote the economic empowerment of women in Africa, using this epic rally to reach the widest possible audience – is no small undertaking!”

Our UK friends at Tuthill Porsche are supplying cars and tech support on the event. Keep it tuned to the TwinSpark Blog to follow Funk’s Porsche progress.

Donations can be made to the Race4Change fund by visiting the donate page here. The Funk Family Foundation is picking up the cost of competition, so everything you give goes straight to helping the poor. It is a great cause; I hope some TwinSpark Racing fans can get behind it!