Karan Patel has made a victory statement proving he was the driver to beat after dominating the home round of the Africa Rally Championship; Equator Rally in Voi, Kenya over the weekend.
Karan and co-driver Tauseef Khan (Ford Fiesta R5) were too good for the rest of the pack as they held fort at the top through out the rally.
The Kenyan champion cruised through the 205.23kilometre event posting the fastest time of 2hrs 20mins and 59seconds.
“It was a great event for us. We suffered some challenges but at least we secured the win which is the most important.
“We are happy and proud of the victory. We worked hard for it and we got the results. We are now looking forward to the next event,” said Patel.
Uganda’s Yasin Nasser and Ali Katumba’s event strategy paid off when they brought the Ford Fiesta Rally5 in second position overall.
Nasser kept his contention for the top positions from day one keeping a safe and clean drive eventually securing an advantage when the front runners retired out of the rally.
It is Nasser and Katumba’s first podium finish in the Kenyan ARC round.
“It was an enjoyable race despite this morning when we panicked when our steering developed some issues. It was quite an issue but luckily we managed to finish the event,” said Nasser.
Kenya’s Jasmeet Chana and Ravindar Chana would round off the podium in third position overall.
Jas Mangat and Joseph Kamya overcame mishaps to settle for the fourth position overall and a third position in ARC category.
Izhar Mirza finished fifth while Asad Anwar was impressive completing the event in sixth overall.
Young rally star crew of Hamza Anwar and Jeremiah Wahome were equally made a statement with a sublime pace but mechanical issues knocked them out of the event.
The next round of ARC heads to Uganda on the weekend of May 5-7.