Yasin Nasser and Ali Katumba registered yet another regional podium finish at their Zambia Rally debut over the weekend.
The event was the fourth round of the Africa Rally Championship.
The Ugandan champions managed to seal third position overall but it was earned with a cocktail of persistence and luck.
Nasser in a Subaru GVB ended day one in sixth position overall with an incident of a bent suspension.
Day two and the final day threw them yet another challenge.
“In the first stage on Sunday, we suddenly broke the gear lever then intercom totally failed, that was another all-new experience driving like that,” says Nasser.
By the penultimate round, Nasser and Katumba were lying fifth. But misfortunes to local drivers Muna Singh Jr and later Leroy Gomes who retired handed the Ugandan crew a podium finish.
“Coming to Zambia, we knew well it would be hard to chase the R5s. We were going to have our own race and come out with what we deserve.
“But we all know anything can happen in a rally. It was an unfortunate scene for Leroy and Muna who had put up quite a good race. We had the advantage because we were in the best position for the podium,” he added.
Nasser has maintained his third position on the ARC leaderboard with 49 points.
“We would like to do all the remaining ARC rounds. But we shall have to first sit with the whole team and strategize and decide on the events,” said Nasser.
Kenya’s Carl Tundo and Tim Jessop were sublime throughout the event to claim victory in Zambia. South Africa’s Guy Botterill took second place.
The Africa Rally Championship heads to Rwanda on October 22-24.