Lu Jin had been waiting for this moment for 32 years.

As his gray Honda Fit, sporting No 111, roared across the finish line of the KNRC Safari Rally Kenya, the third stop of the 2025 FIA World Rally Championship, in late March, Lu's childhood dream of competing in an international rally had finally come true.

For his maiden race on a World Rally Championship course, Lu, the sole Chinese entrant at the rally, shed 9kg to meet the event's 72kg weight limit, subsisting on three small bowls of noodle soup a day, and fighting off hunger with water and occasional bites of chocolate. The rigors of preparing his car also helped him reach the required weight in just 25 days.

Across the week that included the four grueling race days, Lu got barely 24 hours of sleep in total.

However, for all this effort and sacrifice, neither the clock, nor the scoreboard mattered to him — the only thing that did was simply crossing the finish line.

Lu's passion was sparked in the late autumn of 1993, when he watched his first-ever motor sports event — the Hong Kong-Beijing Rally — in Shijiazhuang, capital of North China's Hebei province.

"I was blown away, as if seeing a UFO touch down," recalled Lu, now aged 49.

The sight of the cars, piloted by legends like Colin McRae and Lu Ningjun, thundering toward Shijiazhuang's city center with the blinding beams of their headlights piercing through the dusk, remains etched in his memory.

The sport became an obsession ever since. Upon coming of age, Lu acquired his driver's license to aid the family business, learned the art of car repair from his father, and secretly honed his skills in motor racing.

Without formal training, he pored over videotapes of Jimmy McRae — father of 1995 World Rally Champion Colin McRae — coaching Lu Ningjun, one of China's most battle-tested rally drivers.