Reigning Africa rally champion Manvir Baryan continued his winning streak claiming victory at the 2019 ARC season opener; Rally Bandama in Ivory Coast on Sunday.
The Kenyan eased through the final day of the event after securing a superior lead following multiple retirements from the top local crews on Saturday.
Baryan and Sturrock completed the 274.05kilometre event in 2hrs 51mins and 30seconds.
They now take an early lead in the ARC standings with 50 points.
Maxime Abondio secured a comfortable second position; he was 16 mins and 41 seconds slower. Marc
The local crews were left in misery after mechanical woes put many out of contention.
Day one leader Gary Chaynes, who was heads on favourite to pose a challenge to the Kenyan crew, had his Mitsubishi EvoX turbo hinder his pace on Saturday morning. He dropped out in stage three and with that went any chance of defending his Bandana rally win.
France’s Romain Dumas who was holding the second position on Saturday had his race shortened in stage seven with fuel pressure issues.
Morifere Saomahoro and Frederic Gigault were among the casualties of the three day event.
The second round of ARC heads to South Africa on 26-28th April.