The KCB Nanyuki rally took place on October 09, 2021 in Nanyuki plains. The seventh round of the Kenya National Rally Championship series on their calendar saw Top Fry Racing’s Carl “Flash” Tundo and his co-driver Timothy Jessop in their Mitsubishi Evolution 10 win the rally at a time of 01:50:52.5 in a competitive distance of 216.74km. The victory did not come easy to them as they incurred a heavy five minute penalty for getting outside assistance when they pushed their car into the service area. Their car nose-dived a few meters away from the final time control stop and broke its radiator leaving it with some damages, resulting in them pushing it for the final 800 meters to get it into the service point. This is Tundo’s second KNRC win also coming in after winning the ARC in Zambia just weeks before. He is the lead on the KNRC standings with 164 points currently after this win.
At his career best, in second place, was Arrow Rally Team’s Aakif Virani and his co-driver Azhar Bhatti in their Skoda Fabia at 01:51:22.8. There was a difference of almost a minute between the first two and this was the best Virani has performed in the KNRC. He, however was the lead in the division one category. He appeared ecstatic to have clenched this podium finish in this round; his ending up in the second position came after Baldev Charger and his co-driver Ravi Soni suffered a hefty penalty of 20 minutes, when their Volkswagen Polo was adjudged to have taken a short cut from cutting a corner. Charger then dropped from second overall to tenth position in this rally! The Kabras Sugar racing team ended with a total time of 02:07:55.4 which was a real blow to them given that they had been leading in the previous rallies.
In third position was Rai Racing’s Amaanraj Rai with his co-driver Gurdeep Panesar in their Skoda Fabia with a total time of 01:52:06.8. This was also one their best performances thus far, coming out with a podium finish this time, his first in this series of KNRC. Amaanraj’s brother Tejveer Rai is still recovering after his horrible accident in the WRC Safari rally back in June and their other brother Onkar Rai took a leave from the KNRC to take care of him. All the drivers in the series put up “TEJ STRONG” stickers on their cars as a show of support and good sportsmanship to their fellow rally car driver. Karan Patel also did not take part in this rally.
KCB Jaguar Petroleum’s Jasmeet Chana and his co-driver brother Ravi Chana in their Mitsubishi Evolution came in fourth place with a time of 01:55:25.3 and WRC/FIA Rally Stars McRae Kimathi and his co-driver Mwangi Kioni in their Ford Fiesta rounded out the top five, they came in at a time of 01:56:46.6. McRae’s performance keeps getting better as he seemingly ends up in the top ten in most races.
In the division two category, Nzioka Waita and co-driver Tuta Mionki in their Mitsubishi Evolution came out on top at a time of 01:57:55.1 and in second position was Maxine Wahome with co-driver Linet Ayuko in their Subaru Imprezza with a time of 02:07:15.8.
The race claimed a lot of causalities that were under the DNF (Did Not Finish) category as follows: Menengai Cream Racing’s Eric Bengi and co-driver Peter Mutuma who retired in SS04 due to a drive shaft, Steve Mwangi and co-driver Dennis Mwenda retired in SS04, Edward Maina and c0-driver Anthony Gichoh retired in SS03 due to overheating problems, Ian Duncan and co-driver Tej Sehmi retired in SS01 after their car rolled, Hamza Anwar and co-driver Adnan Din retired in SS03, and Daren Miranda and co-driver Amman Shah retired in SS01.
