Kenya’s Don Smith will forever talk about the 2016 Rally of Tanzania; fourth round of 2016 Africa Rally Championship as his most challenging event.
With Bob Kaugi calling the pace notes, Smith had a rough race despite his rival Muna Singh making an early retirement that would put him in a comfort zone.
The duo limped to their first ARC event victory with mechanical issues.
Bob Kaugi shared with Kawowo Sports their experience of Rally Tanzania.
“We started on attack but later relaxed when we saw Muna by the roadside. It came as a blessing because little did we know we had a problem until end of stage two,” said Kaugi.
“We welded our broken rear subframe as many time as we could. We had to drive very slow almost like recce speeds as we were busy trying to keep in time limits, was quite boring for us,” he added.
Smith and Kaugi finished seventh overall to collect a maximum 25 points to extend their lead to 79 points; 29 points ahead Muna Singh.
They widened their chances of scooping their first ever ARC title after several attempts
“Its not over yet for us as we remain with two events which we must finish to to celebrate.”
The Kenyan team only needs to finish in Rwanda and Uganda to write their names in the ARC champions book.
The next ARC event comes on the weekend of August 12-14th in Rwanda.
ARC standings
1.Don Smith/Bob Kaugi 79points
2.Muna Singh/Jasmeen Singh 50pts
3.Gary Chaynes/David Israel 25pts
4.Ismail Ibrahim/Johan Bruin 15pts