The prestigious Pearl of Africa Uganda Rally 2023 (POAUR) is officially underway in Jinja city for the weekend as it kicked off with the African Rally Championship (ARC) qualifying stage/shakedown in the afternoon that went down in Wailaka-Kakira for the cars competing on that championship and a ceremonial start in the evening at the Source of the River Nile resort on Friday, May 5.
After completing scrutineering and all preparations in place, the competitors are ready to take on the POAUR 2023 and the five drivers competing on the ARC had a shakedown with three qualifying stages in the sugar plantations in Wailaka-Kakira.
All eyes are on who will win the ARC category and MOIL’s Yasin Nasser and co-driver Ali Katumba were fastest in their Ford Fiesta Rally 2 (R5) dubbed “NEMO” doing a time of 0:03:19.30. The crew said they were prepared for the rally and are hoping for a safe fun rally. The weather has been quite unpredictable, so fans look forward to seeing how the drivers go through the stages. It will be a treat to see if Nasser and Katumba can score their first POAUR win and ARC title first-place finish.
Pili-pili rally team’s Jas Mangat and co-driver Joseph Kamya finished second behind Nasser and Katumba in their Mitsubishi Lancer Evo X in a time of 0:03:27.40. The team won the pearl rally in 2022 and are hoping to keep the title this year as well. Jas Mangat won the POAUR in 2013 as well with Gihan de Silva as his co-driver, if he wins it this year, it will be his third Pearl rally win.
The only foreign crew competing in the POAUR this year is Rio Smith and co-driver Riyaz Ismail from Kenya; they finished third in the shakedown in their Subaru Impreza GVB (from the MOIL rally team) in a time of 0:03:44.50. Rio Smith is the son of ARC winner Don Smith and it will be interesting to see how Rio does in his maiden pearl rally.
After scoring sponsorship from KCB Bank this season, Mike Mukula Jr placed fourth alongside co-driver Hussein Mukuye in their Subaru Impreza with a time of 0:03:51.40. This is Mukula’s first event this season and first time competing in the ARC; not to be counted out, he hopes to do his best in this event alongside fellow competitors.
Also, a first-time competitor on the ARC is Innocent Bwamiki and co-driver Hamza Lwanga in their Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 9. The crew had a time of 0:03:53.80. This is a milestone achievement for the crew that is now legible to compete on an international scene in the ARC. Those are the five crews competing in the ARC.
With KCB Bank coming on board as a sponsor alongside Shell Vivo Energy, it will serve as a great scene for drivers to showcase their prowess.
The POAUR broke ground in Uganda in 1996 and it run under FIA rules as the Great Lakes Rally jointly with the Club Automobile du Burundi; it was won by the legendary Karim Hirji (RIP) and co-driver Frank Nekusa. It became an ARC candidate event in 1997 where it then got to be called the Pearl of Africa Uganda rally. Uganda applied for its own ARC event in 1997 after Burundi suffered political instability in 1996.
Legendary and great drivers like Charlie Lubega, Riyaz Kurji, and Manvir Singh Baryan have all won the event three times and hold the most wins. Chipper Adams and Jas Mangat have won it twice; drivers like Ponsiano Lwakataka, and Hassan Alwi Jr have also been crowned POAUR winners (2011 for Lwakataka and 2016 for Alwi). Zambia’s Mohammed Essa also won the rally once in 2012. Fans are looking to see who will win the rally this year.
