The fourth round of the African Rally Championship (ARC) is underway in Ngozi-Burundi and Kenya’s Karan Patel and co-driver Tauseef Khan won day one of the competition in their Ford Fiesta with a time of 01:15:16:3. The team won an impressive eight stages out of the nine they did and are hoping to extend their lead even on day two. The team are the only Kenyans taking part in this event and it is their second time competing this year; their first was the Safari rally back in June. Patel is third in the ARC standings behind Jas Mangat and Yasin Nasser.
In second place was Jas Mangat and co-driver Joseph Kamya in their Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 10 with a time of 01:20:17:7. There is a time difference of 05:01:4 from Patel. Mangat last competed in the Pearl of Africa rally back in May but the team will possibly be competing in upcoming events after they debuted their Hyundai i20 R5 on social media earlier this month. Mangat was third overall after the day ended.
Yasin Nasser and co-driver Ali Katumba came third in their Ford Fiesta R5 with a time of 01:20:21:1. The team has a time difference of 3:4 seconds from Mangat/Kamya. Nasser stopped in stage seven where Innocent Bwamiki and co-driver Hamza Lwanga had rolled as they were coming behind them. After a stewards meeting, the time lost will be reinstated. Nasser is leading the ARC standings so it will be very interesting to see how they take on Mangat tomorrow.
There were only three finishers in the ARC out of the five that competed. Innocent Bwamiki and Nyerere Prince Charles retired. They will be back to compete tomorrow for a possible fourth place finish.
Kirumira Edward and co-driver Abdallah Zubedah in their Toyota Corona finished overall eighth place and those were the only Ugandan crews that completed day one.
On a national level, Bukera Valery came out on top with co-driver Khetia Nital in their Subaru Impreza N12 with a time of 01:18:28:7. Bukera, who has been rallying since 1998, won one stage out of the nine which was an impressive fit for the team. In second place was Massoud Fahd and co-driver Giesen Jean Pascal in their Subaru Impreza with a time of 01:25:21:2, the team is behind Bukera by 06:25:5. Closing out the top three was Uwikunda Prime and co-driver Musafiri Charly in their Subaru Impreza with a time of 01:27:00:5.
Day two will cover six stages to crown the winner.
