Onkar pulls late charge to claim Nakuru win

Onkar Rai picked up a third consecutive Nakuru rally with victory in the season-opening event of the Kenyan Rally Championship.

Despite registering few entries, the 2019 Kenya Rally Championship season got off to an incredible start on Saturday. 

The Kabras Rally Team crews took center stage of the season opener,  but it’s Rai who produced a brilliant start seeing off a sustained charge from teammate Carl Tundo. 

Co-driven by Gavin Laurence, Rai pushed his Skoda Fabia into the lead in the ultimate stage of the event to take win by only four seconds. 

Rai shared the event’s eight stages with Tundo each bagging four stage wins. 

Baldev Charger, sealed the Nakuru podium in third position with Tajveer Rai; another Kabras crew finishing fourth overall. 

Mahesh Halai settled for fifth position while Sohanjeet Puee and Ammar Haq finished sixth and seventh overall. 

Issa Amwari who was returning to the cockpit after two years out of action could only settle for eighth position in the Mitsubishi Evo X.

The rally however registered several casualties including Eric Bengi who was forced out of the rally after damaging his intercooler. He was in his first outting with the Mitsubishi Evo X.

Jasmeet Chana registered an early retirement with gearbox trouble.  

The second round of KNRC is scheduled for March 2-3.