Umar Dauda Scores First NRC Victory As He Wins the Fort Portal Rally 2022

The final day of competition brought a turn of events as Umar Dauda and co-driver Hamza Lwanga scored their first win in the National Rally Championship events. This Fort Portal rally was Dauda’s first win in his rallying career! Dauda and his co-driver did a total time of 1:25:38.9 in their Mitsubishi Evo6 with a total competitive distance of 122.66km.

Umar Dauda in the service park after winning the rally

Dauda started off the final day of competition in sixth place but kept his pace and got his breakthrough after Duncan Mubiru suffered a mechanical issue with his diff or differential in the very last stage. He was well on his way to winning the rally if it had not happened.This gave the team a clear chance to go after the win and give it there all which paid off tremendously. Dauda has been a staple in the motorsport world, going way back to the early 2000’s even though he had not scored a win before. This is a great victory the team and it moves him up in the standings. He was in fifth place before this round but this puts him in second place now behind Ponsiano Lwakataka.

Right on his tail was Jonas Kansiime and co-driver Ivan Tushabe in second place in their Mitsubishi Evo8 with a total time of 1:25:50.0. The time difference was of only 11.1. Kansiime also kept his pace through the whole event and this was a good strategy because it landed the team a podium position. This is the team’s first podium this season.

Second place driver Jonas Kansiime with navigator Ivan Tushabe doing their run of the Karim Hiriji stage

Putting on a spectacular performance throughout the event was Fulcrum racing’s Mark Lubega and co-driver Daniel Mbabazi. The team came in third place overall, scoring their first NRC podium, their best score yet, for now in his career. The youngster keeps getting better and better and it showed in this event. Lubega did a time of 1:26:30.2 in a Subaru Impreza. They had a difference of 51.2 from rally winner Dauda. Mike Mukula Jr. and co-driver Edward Kiyinji won the CRC category and with these youngsters putting up such good performances, the sport is going to have good competition moving forward.

Mike Mukula Jr(right) congratulating friend Mark Lubega(left) on his first NRC podium win. Photo credit: Innocent Mutaawe

In fourth place was Peter Kalule and co-driver Mariam Nambasa in a Subaru Impreza with a time of 1:31:42.3 and closing out the top five was Byron Rugomoka and co-driver Hakim Mawanda in a Mitsubishi Evo X with a time of 1:32:18.7. Kalule and Rugomoka suffered penalties of 00:20.0 and 00:30.0 respectively.

Peter Kalule and Mariam Nambasa put on a good performance, here in their Subaru Impreza. All images courtesy of Innocent Mutaawe.

Keeping his winning charm going was Oscar Ntambi, who won the 2WD category yet again. Ntambi and co-driver Asuman Muhammed in their Altezza beat Ibrahim Lubega and co-driver Shakira Nabwami. Oscar Ntambi’s performance keeps improving and this keeps his lead in the 2WD category.

Only twelve drivers completed the full rally as the rest retired like Andrew Musoke.

The next round of the NRC is scheduled for the first weekend in August in Sembabule organized by Southern Motor Club (SMC).

Overall Results/Finishers