Fast-rising Rajbir piles pressure on title hopefuls
Rajbir Rai's Evo10 blows dust during the Guru Nanak Rally. Chances of a new champion emerging in the Kenya National Rally Championship for the first time for over a decade are growing fast following Rajbir Rai’s maiden victory in last month’s KCB Nakuru Rally. PHOTO / ANWAR SIDI
What you need to know:
- To win the series, 24-year-old Rajbir Rai has to maintain his current form in the remaining four rounds of the series, where 360 points are on offer.
Chances of a new champion emerging in the Kenya National Rally Championship for the first time for over a decade are growing fast following Rajbir Rai’s maiden victory in last month’s KCB Nakuru Rally.
With 30 points separating Rajbir and Baldev Chager at the top of the overall standings of the KCB-sponsored series, the former looks set to cause a major upset in the series if he maintains his present form.
To win the series, the 24-year-old driver has to maintain his current form in the remaining four rounds of the series, where 360 points are on offer.
The Safari Rally, which also forms part of the African Rally Championships, offers the biggest share of points where a winner is awarded 120 points. The second, third, fourth and fifth-placed finishers get 90, 75, 60 and 53 points respectively.
The rest of the events have a different scoring system where a winner gets 80 points. The second, third, fourth and fifth-placed finishers get 60, 50, 45 and 35 points respectively. Both the ARC and KNRC award points to the last finisher.
Chager leads the KNRC series with 200 points followed by Rai (170) and Carl Tundo (160). Ravi Soni heads the navigators’ with 200 points followed by Timothy Challen (175) and Tim Jessop (160).
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Alasdair Keith and his navigator Tariq Malik are a unique set of drivers leading both the Division Two and the Group S class with 275 points each. The only crew of uncle and nephew of Mahesh and Ketan Halai is second with 150 points in Division Two and 17th overall in the main championship.
“We are very happy with our performance, including our overall position. Obviously our goal for this year is to win the group S title. We are happy to be in the lead. We can’t afford to be complacent and we’ll push to the very end,’’ said Keith.
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Don Smith (120) of the Fight540 heads Division Three championship, while Karan Patel, son of Kiran Patel of Jetlink Airways is second and 10 points adrift. Another youngster, Ronal Shah, nephew to the former rally ace, Bimal Shah is third with 110 points.
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Peter Horsey’s navigator, Bella Erskine is the best-placed female navigator in the overall KNRC. Erskine is ninth with 60 points.
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Jaspreet Chatte, the sole Kenyan driver registered to contest the whole programme of the 2014 African Rally Championship, will be in Tanzania for the home round of the series to be staged on June 13-15 in Dar es Salaam.
ORYX Energies-sponsored Rally of Tanzania has so far attracted nearly 15 entries. Kenyan navigators, among them Shammer Yusuf, Ravi Chana and Sinder Sudle, continue to feature prominently in the Tanzanian Rally Championship.
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Nanyuki is ahead of its plans for the fifth round of the KNRC to be staged on June 27-28. A spectator stage, the main Service Park and ceremonial finish will be on the slopes of Mount Kenya.
The rally will be run on a private farm, where some of the stages include Batian View (3km), Loldaiga (54km), Ol-Donyo (15km), Kisima (15km) and Equinox (10km) will be centred.
