Hassan Alwi and Enoch Olinga are the winners of the 20th edition of the Pearl of Africa Rally that took ground over the weekend in Busiika and Mubende.
Alwi was absorbed with a win and his wish convincingly came to pass after dominating the event from stage three to the end.
He posted the fastest time of 2hrs 41mins 01secs coupled with three stage wins.
Pearl Rally win is Alwi and Olinga’s best achievement in their rally career.
“We are so grateful for this victory, we really worked hard for this. It has not been that easy but we thank God for taking us through to the finish. Big thanks go to the whole crew,”said excited Olinga at the prize giving.
The Pearl win puts Alwi in the NRC lead after securing maximum 140points. He now makes 394points in five NRC events, 94points ahead of now second placed Jas Mangat
Arthur Blick Jr finished second overall over the weekend.
The 2015 NRC Champion was just 52 seconds behind.
Christakis Fitidis sealed the podium placed in third while Omar Mayanja secured the forth position.
With only two ARC contenders making it to the finish, Shermohamed Ismail finished fifth overall to top the ARC category as well as sealing the 2WD class while Don Smith finished in second and seventh overall.
However, Smith secured the Africa Rally Championship title while Shermohamed became first ever ARC 2WD champion.
Roshanali Mohammed remained the only Burundian crew in the race among the three that represented.
Out of 43 crews that started the rally, only 20 made it to the finalist list.
Burundi’s Valery Bukera launched the retirement list on day one in Busiika. Day two ended with crews like Ronald Sebuguzi, Andrew Desh Kananura, Ambrose Byona, Muna Singh and others coughing Pearl Rally misfortunes.
Top Five finalist
1. Hassan Alwi/Enoch Olinga 2:41:01
2. Arthur Blick/Unissan Bakunda 2:41:53
3. Christakis Fitidis/Eric Nzamwita 2:48:58
4. Omar Mayanja/Hussein Mukuye 2:55:18
5. Ismail Shermohamed/Jordan Pierra 2:56:18