Cote d’Ivoire’s rally crew of Gary Chaynes and Romain Comas took an early lead in the 2014 Africa Rally Championship (ARC) race after winning the Rallye Bandama Cote D’Ivoire.
The crew who finished second after day two came back fighting on the final day and won ahead of morning leader Morifere Soumaoro and Philipe Garcia by only 33.5 seconds and lie top of the ARC standings with 25 points.
Chaynes completed the 250 km race in two hours, twelve minutes, thirty one seconds and three micro seconds (2:12:31.3) while Soumaoro clocked 2:13:04.8.
Rwanda’s Giancarlo Davite finished the race in 8th position clocking 2:30:16.2 and comfortably sits third on the ARC standings with 15 points.
Only 12 cars finished this grueling first round of the ARC with 11 stages totaling 250km with Ugandan legend Charles Muhangi and Kenya’s Jaspreet Singh Chatthe; contenders for the ARC title this year dropped out of the event.
Muhangi blew his engine while Jaspreet damaged his suspension on day two of the rally which was based in Yamoussoukro at the Hotel President and looped around the town.
The second round of the ARC will be staged in South Africa at the Sasol Rally between April 11 and 14, 2014.
FINAL RESULT FROM RALLYE BANDAMA COTE D’IVOIRE:
1. Gary Chaynes / Romain Comas – CIV – Mitsubishi Evo9 – 2:12:31.3
2. Morifere Soumaoro / Philipe Garcia – CIV – Mitsubishi Evo10 – 2:13:04.8
3. Marc Molinie / Christian Tribout – CIV – Mitsubishi Evo7 – 2:19:49.6
4. Thibaut Sans / Sharrif Joher – CIV – Mitsubishi Evo6 – 2:26:32.0
5. Ali Jaber / Jean-Charles Rousseau – CIV – Mitsubishi Evo8 – 2:26:50.4
6. Loic Malherbe / Thierry Brion – CIV – Subaru Impreza – 2:27:33.9
7. Pierrick Artault / Loic Artault – CIV – Mitsubishi Evo9 – 2:28:54.4
8. Giancarlo Davite / Sylvia Vindevogel – RWA – Subaru Impreza – 2:30:16.2
9. Pascal Brossier / Jean-Luc Roinet – CIV – Mitsubishi Evo9 – 2:30:23.7
10. Luc Jacquelin / Virgine Jacquelin – CIV – Mitsubishi Evo6 – 2:33:07.8
11. Thierry Pansolin / Robert Borg – CIV – Mitsubishi Evo6 – 2:34:34.4
12. Claude Ambrosino / Ibrahim Ghaddar – Peugeot 207 – 3:09:48.7
2014 ARC STANDINGS AFTER ROUND ONE:
1. Gary Chaynes (Cote d’Ivoire) – 25points
2. Morifere Soumaoro (Cote d’Ivoire) – 18points
3. Giancarlo Davite (Rwanda) – 15points
