Tundo eyes title as rally heads to Eldoret

Carl Tundo (left) and Tim Jessop celebrate after winning the 2018 Safari Rally at the Sopa Lodge, Nakuru. PHOTO | ANWAR SIDI |

What you need to know:

  • The new sponsor comes in at a time when the national rally organizing clubs are facing difficult times trying to run a proper event after KCB withdrew its major sponsorship deal with the KNRC series

  • With no sponsor, drivers are forced to pay an entry fee of almost Sh42,000 from what was previously Sh12,000. Only 21 cars have entered the forthcoming rally, whose main aim will be to maintain their battle for the respective titles in the National Rally Championship

  • The rally 250-kilometer-long rally will start from the Sikh Union Club at 8am on Saturday before tackling first of the competitive sections

All the leading Kenya National Rally Championship contenders head to Eldoret this weekend for the penultimate event of the season sponsored by  Kabras Sugar.

The new sponsor comes in at a time when the national rally organizing clubs are facing difficult times trying to run a proper event after KCB withdrew its major sponsorship deal with the KNRC series. 

With no sponsor, drivers are forced to pay an entry fee of almost Sh42,000 from what was previously Sh12,000. Only 21 cars have entered the forthcoming rally, whose main aim will be to maintain their battle for the respective titles in the National Rally Championship. 

The first of the official programme for the event will take place on Friday with the official reconnaissance of the event to be organized by the Western Kenya Motor Club.

Carl Tundo needs to finish in the top three places of the remaining two rounds of the series to clinch the KNRC crown for the fourth time in his rallying career. The last round will be organized by the Simba Union Club of Nairobi in November.

The Kabras Eldoret Rally is set for a spectator friendly event with six competitive stages along the route of the competition.

Eric Bengi

Eric Bengi's Mitsubishi Evolution 10 will be flagged off first in the Equator Rally due this weekend.

Photo credit: File | Nation Media Group

The rally 250-kilometer-long rally will start from the Sikh Union Club at 8am on Saturday before tackling first of the competitive sections.

The longest competitive stage will be 34kms while the shortest stage will be 5.5kms. A total of three stages will be done twice.

The stages will be as follows with the start time: 09:31: CS2-Farm 1 (31.00km), 09:30: CS3: Forest 1 (34.80km), 12.28: CS4-Chemweno 2 (5.5km), 12.41: CS5: Farm 2 (31 km), 13:24 and CS6-Forest 2 (34.80km) respectively.

The total competitive distance will be 142.60 kms (63.18 per cent) while Liaison Distance will be 83.10 (40.35 per cent).

Entry List

1. Ian Duncan/ Anthony Nielsen (Nissan Pickup),

2. Baldev Chager/Ravi Soni (Mitsubishi Evolution10),

3. CarlTundo/Tim Jessop (Mitsubishi Evolution10),

4. Onkar Rai /TBA (Skoda Fabia),

5. Eric Bengi/Tuta Mionki (Subaru Impreza),

6. Farhaaz Khan/Kashif Sheikh (Mitsubishi Evolution10),

7. Tejveer Rai /Zahir Shah (Mitsubishi Evolution10),

8. Jasmeet Chana/Ravi Chana (Mitsubishi Evolution10),

9. Amaanraj Rai/Tauseef Khan (Ford Fiesta),

10. Ammar Haq/Victor Okundi (Mitsubishi Evolution10),

11. Sohanjeet Puee/Adnan Din (Subaru Impreza N10),

12. Aakif Virani/Azhar Bhatti (Subaru Impreza),

13. Adin Haq/Raju Chaggar (Range Rover),

14. Nikhil Sachania/Alfir Khan (Mitsubishi Evolution10),

15. John Ng'ang'a/George Njoroge (Subaru Impreza),

16. Rajay Sehmi/Tej Sehmi (Porsche 911),

17. Chandrakant C/Julius Mwachuya (Subaru  Impreza),

18. Edward Maina/John Ngugi (Subaru Impreza),

19. Khalid Umar/Kimeli Korir (Subaru Impreza),

20. Sarit Shah/Kigondu Kareithi (Toyota Corolla),

21. Albert Kigen/Edward Ndukui (VW Golf G.TI).