Randeep Singh Birdi comfortably held on to secure victory in the weekend Rally of Tanzania in Bagamayo.
Navigated by Zubayr Piredine, Singh maintained his day one lead to post the fastest time of the two day event. He fared through a 248.71km competitive distance in 2 hours, 15 minutes, 25 seconds to register his third Rally Tanzania win.
“Am so glad to have won this rally, it was not an easy race as one had to be so cautious in every stage and we are happy we made it,”says Birdi.
Jamil Khan came in second with 2 minutes, 11 seconds behind rally leader Birdi.
The 2015 rally Tanzania winner Gerald Miller sealed the podium in third while Dharam Pandya settled for fourth.
Kenya’s Don Smith topped the African Rally Championship category after his Zambian rival Muna Singh Jr made an early retirement on day one.
Smith and Bob Kaugi finished ninth overall.
The duo is now 29 points ahead of Muna who remains on 50 points.
Christakis Fitidis was the best placed foreigner. The Ugandan finished in fifth place overall while Yasin Nasser settled for eleventh.
Despite Muna’s retirement, Zambia was still represented in Anastasios Calavrias who finished seventh overall.
2016 Rally Tanzania finalist
1. Randeep Singh/Zubayr Piredine 2:15:25
2. Jamil Khan/Maisam Faizal 2:17:36
3. Gerald Miller/Peter Fox 2:17:39
4. Dharam Pandya/Manmeet Singh 2:23:43
5. Christakis Fitidis/FEric Nzamwita 2:28:42
6. Ajminder Dhani/Absolum Aswani 2:38:45
7. Anastasios Calavrias/Adrian Sutherland 2:49:58
8. Adil Yakub/Ashraf Asharaphe 2:52:08
9. Don Smith/Bob Kaugi 3:01:53
10. Joey Chose/Imran Khan 3:09:14
11. Charles Bicco/David Matete 3:28:50