Green Light for Pearl of Africa Rally to Stay In The Pearl of Africa

The Pearl of Africa rally has long been running on a yellow card based off the accidents and safety concerns over the years; many of the competitors complained about the very poor safety measures and uncontrollable fans. But after the completion of the event last, the event is set to return next year and to remain on the African Rally Championship calendar (ARC).

FIA safety delegates; Nicholas Klinger and William Louw with the microphone

The recently completed Pearl of Africa rally received good reviews from the FIA delegates that were closely monitoring the event. The event was publicized on the caution of safety-first and it was imperative that the fans followed the guidelines that were put in place. The delegates congratulated the safety department and the organizers on a good safe accident-free rally. The delegates told the press, “Pearl rally is coming back; safety has improved although a lot has to be done but at least there was an improvement. It shows that everybody is able to create an incident-free event” Nicholas Klinger, the FIA head of safety said.

Safety was improved on and the fans stayed behind the tape for most of the time, and watched from the designated spectator viewing points however, all other rally events need to embrace the critical issue of safety not just the pearl event. Uganda has a very large motorsport fan base, the biggest in East Africa and contending in Africa as a whole, and this becomes challenging to effectively control the crowds but its possible as seen in the completed event.

This was the twenty-third pearl of Africa rally event which saw Jas Mangat and co-driver Joseph Kamya come out winners in their Mitsubishi Lancer Evo X. Mangat ended the dominance of Kenyan winners in the pearl event, where it’s Manvir Baryan Singh co-driven by Drew Sturrock had won in 2019, 2018, and 2017. Uganda’s Hassan Alwi co-driven by Enock Olinga won in 2016 in their Subaru Impreza STi N14 but Jaspreet Singh Chatthe co-driven by Craig Thorley won in 2015 also Kenyan and Rajbir Rai co-driven Tim Challen won the event in 2014 from Kenya as well. Jas Mangat won the event in 2013 and this was his second win of the event.

ARC current leader, Leroy Gomes of Zambia also shouted out the fans for being controlled this time round and still being as enthusiastic as before. Gomes came in second place in the event with his navigator wife Urshlla Gomes, keeping them in the lead in the ARC.

Current ARC Standings after Pearl rally