Micheal Mukula Jr believes he picked the right momentum to chase for this year’s NRC title after his finish in the season opening event.
Mukula and Siraj Kyambadde in a Subaru Impreza N14 completed the weekend’s Mbarara rally in fifth place; a position he says was perfect for his title bid.
Mukula was in contention with NRC champions and he attempted to close in on the top spots. However, a penalty picked after the first stage on Friday and a puncture in the morning stage on Saturday derailed his charge.
“Our performance was just perfect. The fact that we finished behind four NRC champions says a lot. All those crews are better than us in experience and other aspects. But we kept within same times,” said Mukula.
“Our times throughout the event were so convincing compared to my previous events. And that shows that now everything is falling in place,” he added.
Mukula posted the second fastest times in the power stage to collect a total of 43 points from Mbarara rally.
“We had a few issues during the event, but the most important this, is that we finished the event. The finish gives us the right momentum to start the title chase. I am fully focused on fighting for this year’s title,” he added.
In the previous years, Mukula has been unfortunate having picked more DNFs than rally finishes. The crew however, is confident that everything will fall to plan.
“We had issues before because we had just inherited the car. A lot of things had to be done on the car for it to match our performance. We had to fix a lot of things and I have had enough sit time, which is also important,” he added.
Mukula heads to the next event 14 points behind NRC leader Ponsiano Lwakataka.
The next NRC event is scheduled for April in Masaka district.
