Weather? Ok... Kajiado Rally on!

After two days of confusion, the KCB Kajiado Rally starts in Kitengela on Sunday morning.

“Contrary to earlier reports (that the rally had been cancelled), I’m determined to run the event. As the Clerk of the Course, I’m obliged and mandated to run the rally to the end unless something drastic happens,” Jim Kahumbura, who is the main architect of the third round of the 2015 Kenya National Rally Championship season, told Nation Sport on Saturday.

“I am grateful to the drivers who have encouraged my team to stay on track to the end. Everything is in order.”

The Clerk of the Course of an event is the most powerful official in any rally organising team. He has the powers to cancel, postpone or make any vital changes.

“Due to the bad conditions, we removed Andys Corner and added one more stage to complete the programme. The stages will remain as follows beginning with SS1- Isinya/Konza (31kms), SS2 - Rifle Range/Msa Rd (9kms), SS3 - Portland Cement/Rifle Range (22 kms) and SS4 - Quarry (2kms) respectively,” Kahumbura said.

Former national champion Ian Duncan was among the top drivers to visit the revised recce programme on Saturday, where conditions looked better than what had caused major chaos on the previous day.

AFRICAN CROWN

Others included current leader of the KNRC series and winner of the KCB Safari Rally Jaspreet Chatthe, Rajbir Rai, Raaji Bharij and Jas Mangat of Uganda.

Cars will be flagged off this morning from the Kitengela KCB branch before they tackle the four stages, which will be repeated twice.

The main Service Park will be based at the Portland Farm House.

Meanwhile, the event had already attracted well known international celebrities before organisers were forced to make drastic changes to the rally due to the poor weather.

Among the big names is Mark Higgins, the former British Rally Champion, who has been coaching the Jaspreet Chatthe.

Chatthe was quick to attribute his success to the Briton. “Higgins was here during the KCB Safari Rally and then joined me in South Africa to provide me with more specialised ways of handling a rally as a driver. His training has been very helpful,” said Chatthe.

Besides the KNRC title, Chatthe has also set his eyes on the ARC crown. His next event will be in Zambia on 16/17 May.

Panesar will continuing co-driving him in the Kenyan events, while Thorley will guide him in the ARC circuit.

The Kajiado Rally has attracted several of the other internationally-renowned drivers, which will be seen as great image for the Kenyan rallying to rest of the world.

Paris-Dakar winner, Kenjiro Shinozuka of Japan, Finland’s Tapio Laukkanen (winner of the first round) and Mathias Kahle, the number rally driver from Germany, are among the other celebrities.