Sweet news for KNRC as Kabras back Eldoret round
What you need to know:
- A power stage will be introduced in the 2020 season.
Kabras Sugar will sponsor the next round of the 2019 Kenya National Rally Championship to be held in Eldoret in two weeks’ time.
The new sponsor comes in at a time when the national rally hosting clubs are facing difficult times trying to run events after KCB withdrew its title sponsorship deal with the Championship.
Mombasa Rally, one of the longest running events in the history of the Kenya National Rally Championship series, will not be staged in 2020 because of lack of funds.
With no sponsor, drivers are forced to pay an entry fee of Sh45,000 compared to Sh12,000 that was charged previously. The next round, to be known as the Kabras Eldoret Rally, will be held on October 13 with three competitive stages that will be done twice.
The total distance will be 225 kilometres of which 142km will be competitive. The longest competitive stage will be 34km while the shortest will be 5.5km.
Carl Tundo and Tim Jessop need a top-three position in the remaining two rounds of the Kenya National Rally Championship to be declared as the official champions for 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 respectively to extend his overall lead of the 2018 Kenya National Rally Championship to 143 points.
Manvir Baryan is also set to rest his African Rally Championship battle after having secured the 2019 ARC title with just the round Rwanda Rally remaining. This was the Skoda driver's second consecutive victory of the major continental title.
The final round of the 2019 KNRC series will be staged by the Simba Union Club in Nairobi on 18 November. Though Mombasa will be missing out of the series next year, the number of KNRC events will remain the same as Nakuru Club has taken over the rally in addition to its own KNRC round.
There will be eight Kenya National Rally Championship rounds: Rift Valley Motor Sports Club (Nakuru) - two rounds, Kenya Motor Sports Club (Nairobi), Western Kenya Motor Club (Eldoret), Safari Rally, Nanyuki Rally Group (Nanyuki), Rallye Sports Club (Nairobi) and Simba Union Club (Nairobi).
A power stage will be introduced in the 2020 season.
