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Kenya Breweries Limited (KBL) through its whisky brand, Johnnie Walker has unveiled 20 teams that will compete to win an all-expenses paid Formula 1 Championship trip.

The 20 teams will be subjected to a month-long competition dubbed Kenya Racing Festival. The Kenya Racing Festival is a competition that combines both Go-Kart racing and F1 Virtual Reality Simulation.  The F1 Virtual Reality Simulation is an F1 simulator takes you through a virtual journey of full F1 experience. The winning team will get to travel to Abu Dhabi for Formula 1 Championship later in the year.

Speaking at the unveil ceremony in Nairobi, KBL Head of Premium Spirits, Grace Nshemeire-Gwaku said that KBL was excited to host the inaugural Kenya Racing Festival competition under its Johnnie Walker Brand.

“The final 20 teams were selected from over 80 hopeful teams across the country in a grueling qualifier held at Whistling Moran. Tonight, we present to you these 20 teams that will compete amongst each other to beat the fastest time. We believe this is an exciting chapter for Kenya to show the world that there are Go Kart champions in this part of the world and Johnnie Walker is proud to sponsor them,” said Mrs Nshemeire-Gwaku.

The decision to leverage Formula 1 sport is to tap to it growing popularity in Kenya and marrying it with Diageo premiumization trends. “This is the coming together of two globally acclaimed brands. Formula 1 is the perfect fit for Johnnie Walker, which inspires and is giving consumers the opportunity to explore the rich possibilities of their world. This association will enable Johnnie Walker to greatly extend its reach to F1 fans,” added Mrs Nshemeire-Gwaku.

In April 2019, KBL through its Johnnie Walker Brand, treated eight customers to a fully paid trip to watch the Formula 1 Azerbaijan Grand Prix. Eric Muthee, Joy Muthee, Wanjiru Gichohi, Charles Kamau, Esther Njoroge, Uki Mariuki, Lydia Wamuyu and Patrick Thuo got an opportunity to watch the live F1 race. The eight winners were part of the Experience Formula 1 with Johnnie Walker Consumer Promotion that ended in February 2019.