Ahmed Katete Steps Up to Subaru N12 as Rising Star Targets 2027 Season
By Mwambazi Lawrence
Uganda’s young rally talent Ahmed Katete is stepping into a new chapter of his motorsport career after upgrading to a Subaru Impreza N12, a move aimed at preparing him for a stronger campaign in the 2027 KCB National Rally Championship season.
And this is no ordinary upgrade. Katete has basically moved from “student accommodation” to the rally equivalent of a penthouse. The GC8 taught him how to survive the stages; the N12 is now asking the young man whether he is ready to pay the rent at NRC level. The answer, judging by the noise coming from the Subaru camp, appears to be a very confident “bring it on!”
Katete, son of rally driver Abdul Katete, has quickly established himself as one of the country’s promising young drivers. He earned his promotion to the NRC this year after completing the CRC category in 2025, where he finished as first runner-up behind Walter Kibande.
During his time in the CRC class, Katete drove a Subaru GC8 alongside co-driver Morgan Serugga. The crew impressed with their consistency, completing every event they participated in and steadily building the experience needed to make the jump into the bigger league.
Consistency was their secret weapon, with Katete and Serugga showing up to stages like students who had actually done their homework. While some crews were busy negotiating with their cars after mechanical dramas, the Katete-Serugga combination kept collecting experience and bringing the GC8 home. In rallying, simply finishing is sometimes a bigger achievement than looking fast for five kilometres before the car decides it has seen enough of life.
The upgrade to the Subaru Impreza N12 therefore comes at a crucial moment in Katete’s development. Although the crew has not competed in an event this season, they are now targeting their debut with the new machine at the CMC Gulu Rally.
The CMC Gulu Rally could therefore become the moment when the new N12 finally gets to introduce itself to the Ugandan rally family. And knowing rally cars, it will probably introduce itself with a loud boxer-engine growl, a little dust and a fuel bill that nobody wants to discuss at the dinner table.
With the new car comes a new challenge. Katete and Serugga are expected to embark on an intensive training programme aimed at familiarising themselves with the N12 and building a strong bond between driver, co-driver and machine before throwing the car into competitive action.
That bonding process will be particularly important because an N12 is not a machine you simply enter your name into and expect it to behave like a family sedan. Katete will need to learn exactly how the car delivers its power, how it behaves under braking and, most importantly, where its temperamental personality begins. Serugga, meanwhile, will have the small but important job of keeping the driver informed while hopefully avoiding the famous co-driver question: “Are you sure?” usually asked when the corner ahead looks like it was designed by someone who hates rally drivers.
The Subaru Impreza N12 is no stranger to Uganda’s rally stages. The car was previously owned by Joshua Muwanguzi, who has since disposed of it as he too looks to move up to another machine.
For Katete, the move represents more than just a change of car. It is a statement of intent from a young driver eager to prove that he belongs among Uganda’s NRC competitors. After learning the ropes in the CRC class, the N12 will now provide him with a bigger platform to test his speed, consistency and racecraft.
But the NRC is a different animal. Here, the stopwatch does not care that you are young, promising or the son of a rally driver. It simply ticks away while the competition tries to steal your seconds. Katete will therefore have to trade the comfortable classroom of CRC for the noisy examination hall of NRC, where every corner comes with a question and every missed braking point can come with a very expensive answer.
The CMC Gulu Rally could provide the first glimpse of what Katete and Serugga can deliver with their new weapon, with the crew hoping to turn their preparation into a competitive debut.
And if the young Katete can tame the N12, rally fans may soon have another family name to watch closely on Uganda’s increasingly competitive rally scene. After all, the GC8 was the classroom the N12 is where the real homework begins.
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