Classic rally lures top drivers with reduced entry fee
What you need to know:
- The KNRC events are hardly one day long compared to the Classic event, which will cover three days of the competition.
Organisers hope the comparatively low entry fees for the Safaricom 4G-sponsored Mini Classic Rally will entice more drivers to enter the competition next month.
The three-day rally, being organised by the East African Safari Rally Limited, will charge Sh21,000 per crew, which is lower than the Sh37,500 charged by organisers of the Kenya National Rally Championship (KNRC) events.
The KNRC events are hardly one day long compared to the Classic event, which will cover three days of the competition.
The proceeds from the rally will go towards a charity to be nominated by the J.S. Vohra family in memory of Vohra, a former motorsports director, who died in an accident while on his way to watch the 2017 East African Safari Classic Rally.
Ian Duncan, the two-time winner of the original East African Safari Classic Rally, is among the twenty-one crews to have entered for the next month's round of the Mini Classic Rally.
The former Kenya national and Safari Rally champion will be among the top Kenyan crews that include Baldev Chager and Raaji Bharij who have both tasted victory of the shorter classic rally on separate occasions.
Tanzania's Jayant Shah, Johannes Hendrik of South Africa and Oman's Joey Ghose are part of the international entries expected to grow in numbers as the date for the competition approaches closer.
Ghose was formerly based in Kenya before migrating to Oman.
Classic rules are flexible where drivers are permitted to miss a maximum of one full day collectively or individually with penalties as specified in these regulations and they may rejoin the rally later.
Drivers are also permitted to miss any competitive section subject to the penalty. If a competitor misses one or more stages, they will be classified as a finisher in the overall results behind all the competitors who have finished all the stages of the rally.
Mini Classic Rally Entry List: 1. Surinder Thatthi/TBA (Porsche 911) Kenyan, 2. Johannes Hendrik/TBA (Ford Escort MK1) South Africa, 3. Rob Linck/Imran Khan (Porsche 911) Kenyan, 4. Ian Duncan/TBA (Ford) Kenyan, 5 . Aslam Khan/Farhaaz Khan (Porsche 911) Kenyan, 6. Dinesh Sachania/Kiran Patel (Datsun 180B) Kenyan, 7. Jasmeet Chana/Ravi Chana (Datsun PA10) Kenyan, 8. Raaji Bharij/Rajay Sehmi (Porsche 911) Kenyan, 9. Jonathan Savage/TBA (Datsun 260Z), 10. Steve Parkinson/TBA (Datsun 260Z)
11. Quentin Savage/TBA (Datsun 180B), 12. Ben Woodhams/TBA (Ford Capri) Kenyan, 13. Jayant Shah/Arshad Khan (Porsche 911) Tanzanian, 14. Joey Ghose/Harpal Singh (Ford Escort MK1) Oman, 15. Hamza Anwar/TBA (Datsun) Kenyan, 16. Kishan Bhanderi/Keith Henrie (Mazda RX7) Kenyan, 17. Minesh Rathod/Minesh Rathod (Colt Lancer) Kenyan, 18. Mitraj Lochab/TBA (VW Beetle) Kenyan, 19. Raj Jutley /Andreas Kidane (Datsun 710) Kenyan, 20. Rajesh Maini/Devan Bhundia (Ford Escort MK1) Kenyan, 21. Rommy Bamrah/Harvey Jutley (Datsun 240Z) Kenyan.
