Next month’s Africa Rally Championship round is bound to offer more than expected following a huge number of entries set for the event.
The Pearl of Africa Uganda Rally slated for May 6-8 comes as the third round of the ARC. It is scheduled to run in the central part of the country.
Forty-nine (49) crews from across the continent have been confirmed to take part in the most prestigious event in the country.
This year’s Pearl Rally has entered more foreign crews than in the last four years.
The foreign crews include six from Kenya, two from Rwanda, and one each from Burundi and Zambia.
ARC contenders Karan Patel (Kenya) and Leroy Gomes (Zambia) both in Ford Fiesta R5 will lead the charge for the ARC points. Gomes tops the leaderboard with 54points. Second-placed Patel has 30 points.
All Uganda’s top crews will as well be on the charge to claim the Pearl Rally victory that has been dominated by a Kenyan for the last three consecutive years.
For the first time in the event, a qualifying stage will be included in the itinerary. The 2.50kilometre stage will provide the start order for the ARC entry crews.
Crews will later tackle four stages all repeated covering a total of 195.21kilometres for Saturday and Sunday respectively.