Baryan in dominant Mombasa drive

Manvir Baryan, navigated by Drew Sturrock, Saturday clinched the KCB Mombasa Rally after setting fastest stage times in almost all the sections from start to finish in this Kenya National Rally Championship (KNRC) round.

Driving a Skoda Fabia, Baryan recorded his third victory in the KNRC series since 2017. He first won the Mombasa Rally in 2017 then followed it up with victory in the Kajiado Rally before capturing the latest win at the coast again.

In second place was the Mitsubishi Lancer of Baldev Chager and Ravi Soni while locals Izhar Mirza and Kavit Dave scored their best ever result in the KNRC series after taking their Mitsubishi Lancer to the third overall position in their home round of the KCB-sponsored series.

Another commendable drive was recorded by Issa Amwari and Job Njiru despite putting their car on its side in the last competitive stage of the event.

They eventually finished in ninth overall driving a Mitsubishi Lancer.

"We were baptized. We are both fine and managed to finish the rally. It was a good baptism,’’ joked Amwari.

Both Amwari and Njiru take over the lead of both the drivers’ and navigators’ classes in the overall standings of the Division Two Championship.

The revival of the night stage looked entertaining as both spectators and competitors enjoyed the atmosphere.

For the first time after a long time, cars were fitted with the customary extra wing and spotlights for the purpose of seeing clearly in the dark. The night stage was won by Baryan.

Geoff Mayes retired at the start of the second stage with engine failure in his Land Rover while the Porsche 911 of Raaji Bharij bowed out with gearbox problem.

Onkar Rai’s VW Polo is said to have run out of fuel along the route while Adil Mirza’s Mitsubishi Lancer suffered unspecified mechanical failure.

Other retirees included Pierro Cannobio, Minesh Rathod and Daren Miranda and Naushad Kara. “We had clutch problems on the second stage. We tried to nurse it to next stage but finally gave in on the transport section to Stage Three,’’ Rathod’s navigator, Shameer Yusuf, said.

Notable performances were recorded by newcomers to the KNRC series. Amit Vaja/Willy Kibata (Subaru Impreza) and Arjun Pattni/Dinesh Varsani (Subaru Impreza) finished 10th and 11th respectively, on their rally debuts.

The teams will now prepare for the next round in Nanyuki on 31 August.ssance will be carried out on August 30 from 6am to 5pm.

Provisional Mombasa Rally results:

1.Manvir Baryan/Drew Sturrock (Skoda Fabia) 01:50:50.00;

2. Baldev Chager/Ravi Soni (Mitsubishi Lancer Evo10) 01:57:57.00;

3. Izhar Mirza/Kavit Dave (Mitsubishi Lancer Evo10) 01:58:27.00;

4. Tejveer Rai/Gavin Laurence (Mitsubishi Lancer Evo10) 01:59;22.70;

5. Amar Haq/Victor Okundi ((Mitsubishi Lancer Evo10) 02:05:45.70;

6. Paras Pandya/Falgun Pandya (Mitsubishi Lancer Evo10) :02:05:53.70;

7. Jasmeet Chana/Ravi Chana (Mitsubishi Lancer Evo10) 02:08:37.60;

8. Sohanjeet Puee/Adnan Din (Subaru Impreza N10) 02:08:57.90;

9. Issa Amwari/Job Njiru (Mitsubishi Lancer Evo10) 02:12:48.20;

10. Amit Vaja/Willy Kibata (Subaru Impreza) 02:23:10.20;

11. Arjun Pattni/Dinesh Varsani (Subaru Impreza) 02:28:30.00;

12. Evans Kavisi/Absolom Aswani (Subatu Impreza) 02:36:22.60;

13. Daren Miranda/Wayne Fernandes (Toyota Sprinter 2wd) 02:47:27.20.