The fourth round of the African Rally Championship took place in Burundi over the weekend of 18-20 August in Ngozi; this was Patel’s second win this season after winning the Equator rally in Kenya back in March. Patel/Khan did a total time of 01:44:45.3 in their Ford Fiesta after six stages on day two. The event was run on closed roads and gave nationals and foreign fans a great spectacle. Patel led on day one and held that position throughout the event. He is in third place in the standings with 60 points after this rally.
Finishing in second place was Team Moil’s Yasin Nasser and co-driver Ali Katumba in their Ford Fiesta R5 with a total time of 01:50:42.6; they had a time difference of 05:57.3 from Patel/Khan. The team had their time restored after a stewards meeting due to the fact that they lost time after stopping in stage seven when Innocent Bwamiki and co-driver Hamza Lwanga had rolled ahead of them. With this second-place finish, Nasser extended his ARC lead with 78 points. The team already secured the National Rally Championship so now they will be on the hunt for the ARC championship.
Jas Mangat and co-driver Joseph Kamya closed out the podium in third in their Mitsubishi Lancer Evo X with a time of 01:58:33.6. The team had a good performance throughout the event and Mangat is second on the standings with 63 points and was the ARC2 winner of the event.
In fourth place was Innocent Bwamiki and co-driver Hamza Lwanga in their Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 9 with a time of 02:30:33.2, the team came back for day two after retiring on day one after they rolled in stage seven. Bwamiki has 38 points and is in fourth place behind Patel.
Closing out the ARC category was Tanzania’s Nyerere Prince Charles navigated by Shameer Yusuf in their Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 10, they did a total time of 03:27:20.6 after retiring on the first day due to mechanical issues. Nyerere was also the ARC Junior winner of the event, this was their first ARC event this season. There were only five competitors in the ARC.
On the Burundi National Rally Championship (BNRC), Bukera Valery and co-driver Khetia Nital came out on top in their Subaru Impreza with a time of 01:49:05.9. Bukera also won the 4WD category. The long-time driver kept first place on the national level right from the start of the competition. Massoud Fahd and co-driver Giesen Jean Pascal came in second at 01:59:24.0 in their Subaru Impreza. Uwikunda D. Prime and co-driver Musafiri Charly closed out the top three at 01:59:58.2, also in a Subaru Impreza.
The Burundi motorsport scene has been inactive for a while but now that it is back on the ARC calendar, it may see a come-back.
The next round on the ARC calendar is the famed Mountain Gorilla Rally in Rwanda slated for 22-24 September and after will move to Zambia in October.
