Carl Tundo on the verge of KNRC crown

The Kabras Eldoret Rally revs off Saturday morning at 8am from the Eldoret Town Hall in the centre of the Western Kenya Region.

Clerk of the Course, Jagjeet Patter, is a happy man as the rains, which had hit the areas along the route a few days ago, have now subsided.

"I hope to have a good rally with no rains, which had threatened the organisers in the last few days. The event is ready to roll with a majority of the title contenders in place and in the right mood to score vital points with just one more rally remaining in the current calendar," said Patter.

Eric Bengi and Tuta Mionki will make history as the second indigenous crew ever to start first in a round of the Kenya National Rally Championship since Patrick Njiru dominated the sport until late into the 1995 KNRC season.

Their Menengai Oil-sponsored Subaru Impreza will be followed by the Mitsubishi Lancer Evo10 of Carl ‘Flash’ Tundo and Tim Jessop, who are seeking their fourth KNRC title.

Uganda's Hassan Alwi and Leroy Olinga are the only foreign competitors in the event driving in a Subaru Impreza. There are eight Subaru models, beating the Mitsubishi make by one in the competition.

The penultimate round of the 2018 KNRC is set to run six competitive stages along the route of the 250-kilometre-long rally. The longest competitive stage will be 34km while the shortest stage will be 5.5km. Three stages will be repeated twice.

The total competitive distance will be 142.60km (63.18%) while Liaison Distance will be 83.10km (40.35%).

The penultimate round of the series is of significance to those vying for glory in the various championships. Mombasa-based crew of Sohanjeet Puee and Adnan Din has already clinched the Group S title with two rounds of the 2018 Kenya National Rally Championship series remaining.

The crew needs a top-three position in the last two rounds to also take the Division Two Title of the national series.

TUNDO 'ALMOST THERE'

Tundo and Jessop need a top-three position in the remaining two rounds of the Kenya National Rally Championship to be declared champions of the 2018 season.

Both Tundo and Jessop have so far won three Kenya National Rally Championship titles in addition to a record of five victories in the Safari Rally.

Tundo has this season won the Safari, Kenya Motor Sports Club (KMSC) and Rallye Sport Club (RSC) and the Nanyuki rallies to extend his overall lead of the 2018 Championship to 143 points.

Daren Miranda and Sarit Shah have to battle it out in the last two rounds of the series to try and clinch the National Formula Two title.

Miranda has a slender lead of nine points considering there is a maximum of 50 points on offer from the two events — the Eldoret and Guru Nanak Rallies respectively.

Eric and his navigator, Mionki are leading the Division One Class. Mionki is also lying third in the overall standings of the Navigators Championship while Bengi is seeded sixth in the driver's category.