Category Archives: Machakos

Kenya’s Sportpesa joins the world of Formula One sponsorship

Today in Canada, sports betting company Sportpesa was unveiled as the title sponsor of the Racing Point Formula One team in its latest international sponsorship venture.

Others sponsors of the team are Bombardier, JCB, BWT and team officials also announced there was room for more sponsors to push the team forward to better performances on track during the season that begins in March 2019 in Australia. The team’s drivers said their realistic aim for the year was for fourth place in the constructor’s championship (i.e. behind the perennial top three teams – Mercedes, Ferrari, Red Bull), to get some podium finishes, and perhaps even a race win.

Racing point is the former Force India team that ran into financial difficulties during the 2018 season. The Force India team had its best performances in 2016 and 2017 when it finished fourth in the formula one standings.

This also ends an unfortunate joke era when the newly-elected governor for Machakos, Alfred Mutua, unveiled his dream for a formula one track in his county, back in 2013.

The RaceFans site which broke the story last month reported that SportPesa is understood to be paying $8 million (i.e. ~Kshs 800 million) for its first year followed by $10 million in 2020 and a further $12 million if they remain for 2021.