Samman Vohra re-ignited his chances in the Africa rally championship title chase with an impressive victory at the Mountain Gorilla rally in Rwanda on the weekend.
The Kenyan reigning champion in a Skoda Fabia imposed himself on the rally with a blistering pace. Samman’s seamless drive from the start to the end saw him sweep all the event’s stages to claim victory by 14mins and 40seconds.
Samman’s victory was made easier as his title rivals struggled through the event missing out on maximum points.
Samman and co-driver Drew Sturrock now stand third on ARC leaderboard with 71 points; 15 points behind the championship leader Uganda’s Yassin Nasser.
In second position in Rwanda was Nikhil Sachania in a Ford Fiesta rally3. Sachania secured points to remain in second position on the standings with only nine points behind the current leader Nasser.
Tanzania’s Prince Charles Nyerere completed the podium places in third to secure his first championship points of the season.
All was not lost for Uganda’s Yasin Nasser whose Ford Fiesta rally2 was forced to retire on day one with a mechanical glitch.
The crew would restart the event to finish fourth claiming valuable points to keep them on top of the standings with 86 points.
Meanwhile, the the reigning ARC champion Karan Patel retired from the event on the opening led; registering his second non-finish and with that limited hopes of clinching a third African title.
The next Africa rally championship event is scheduled for 15-17th August in Burundi.
Drivers’ ARC Standings
Yasin Nasser 86
Nikhil Sachania 77
Samman Vohra 71
Carl Tundo 50
Jeremiah Wahome 46
Karan Patel 35