The expected competition for the 2017 Rally Tanzania revved off today with Kenyans dominating day one.
Kibos’ Jaspreet Chatthe and Greg Stead hold a 2 minute 20 seconds overnight lead after a thrilling contest in the day’s four stages.
Chatthe was quickest in two stages despite being troubled by a a puncture in the early stages.
“We have been a bit cautious in the first stages with a puncture. We lost a bit of time to Manvir but eventually we got back on pace but he (Manvir) unluckily also suffered a puncture.”
“The race is quite tight especially between Manvir. But we shall try and maintain the pace tomorrow and we hope for the best,” said Chatthe.
Second placed Manvir Baryan earlier proved he was a pace setter on the day’s opening stages, but all his efforts diminished with a puncture in the third stage.
“We had a good race with the fastest time before we got a puncture that put us back on times.
“It will be hard to recover that time from Chatthe but that doesn’t mean we shall not push tomorrow,” said Baryan.
Zambia’s Muna Singh Jnr and Zubaid Khan ended day one in third position.
Ahmed Huwel and Maisam Fazal were the best placed local crew in fourth position followed by Harinder Deere in fifth position.
Ugandan crews of Christakis Fitidis finished sixth while Adam Rauf in seventh.
Meanwhile, eighteen crews will continue to the final day.
Crews will compete in four stages covering a total distance of 120.36kilometres.