The first day of the competition of the Pearl of Africa Uganda rally (POAUR) was as dramatic as it was interesting and gruesome on the cars and drivers. Day one saw Kenya’s Rio Smith and co-driver Riyaz Ismail come out on top in the African Rally Championship (ARC) in their Subaru Impreza GVB with a time of 2:01:15.40 in a competitive distance of 1154.18km for the day. This is the only ARC crew that managed to finish all seven stages of the day. The crew kept its pace throughout the day and it paid off for them; going into the last day of competition will be a strategic mission for the crew to secure a podium win for them, it will be their first.
Duncan Mubiru and co-driver Joseph Bongole emerged National Rally Championship (NRC) winners for the day as their crew also scored the best time overall in their Ford Fiesta Proto. The “Kikankane” rally team did a time of 1:48:58.03 and were among the only eight crews to finish all seven stages of the day. Mubiru suffered some mechanical difficulties but managed to power through and emerge day one overall winner. Mubiru has never won the POAUR before so it will be a first if he wins the rally at its end.
The rally proved to be hard on most of the cars and drivers with most of them suffering mechanical and technical difficulties throughout all stages.
In the ARC category, Yasin Nasser and co-driver Ali Katumba placed second in their Ford Fiesta R5 with a time of 1:28:44:30, the crew suffered technical difficulties and did not do the last stage of the day due to a steering rack problem. The crew will be back to fight for points by doing the super rally on the last day of competition.
In third place was Jas Mangat and co-driver Joseph Kamya in their Mitsubishi Lancer Evo X with a time of 1:10:35:00; the crew did only five stages as they suffered oil leakages in their car at the very start of the sixth stage, which forced them to end their rally at that point.
In fourth place was Mike Mukula Jr and co-driver Hussein Mukuye in their Subaru Impreza, the crew only did three stages and retired after a gearbox failure. Fans were saddened to see Mukula out as he is one of the most entertaining drivers in the event.
The last ARC crew of Innocent Bwamiki and co-driver Hamza Lwanga had mechanical issues right from the very first section that they did not get out of, unfortunately.
In the national category, current reigning NRC champion Byron Rugomoka and co-driver Hakim Mawanda placed second behind Mubiru, they did a total time of 1:49:03:81 in their Mitsubishi Lancer Evo X. There was a slight time difference of 0:00:05:78 between Rugomoka and Mubiru. The crew moved through the rally on pace and will be looking to score a podium finish in this event.
An impressive Oscar Ntambi and co-driver Assuman Muhammad finished third in the NRC category, in their colorful Toyota Altezza with a time of 2:03:20:95. The KCB Bank-sponsored Ntambi had fans cheering them on as they went through the stages and this was a really good performance for the 2WD crew. Ntambi and Muhammad are the reigning 2WD champions and it will be interesting to see them fight to retain their title this season.
In fourth place was Ibrahim Lubega and co-driver Mustapha Kanakulya in their Toyota Corolla FX with a time of 2:10:59:17 also from the 2WD category and in fifth place was POAUR all-time first entrant Abasi Mayinja Sebayiga and co-driver Geofrey Sserwoga in their Subaru Impreza with a time of 2:18:09:41.
Umar Kakyama and co-driver Robert Katabalwa in their Ford Fiesta and Mansoor Lubega and co-driver Arthur Lugolobi in their Toyota Truno were the only other crews to finish all seven stages of the day. Kakyama and Lubega also compete under the 2WD.
The second and last day of competition will cover a total competitive distance of 61.91km with a circuit stage in Bujagali; the total competitive distance for the entire rally is 216.09km.
