Kenyan driver completes hatrick of African titles
What you need to know:
- Baryan becomes the first Kenyan driver to win a hat-trick of continental titles since winning his first ARC crown in 2017
- Baryan and his navigator, Drew Sturrock scored their third victory out of the five current rounds of the 2019 African Rally Championship
- Meanwhile, Mombasa Motor Club will run a night stage in its round of the 2019 KCB Kenya National Rally Championship from August 16 to 18
Kenyan rally driver Manvir Baryan has emerged the 2019 African Rally Championship (ARC) winner after clinching victory in Uganda Rally at the weekend.
Baryan becomes the first Kenyan driver to win a hat-trick of continental titles since winning his first ARC crown in 2017.
The Kenyan driver has won each and every round of the African Rally Championship apart from his home event, the Safari Rally, since he made his debut in the ARC series.
“I am extremely pleased to have won the ARC title for the third year running. It was also a first hat-trick of victories by anyone in the Uganda Rally Championship history. I am also very happy for the team,” Baryan told Nation Sport on Monday.
The Skoda Fabia driver added: “I don’t need to tackle the remaining two rounds of the ARC in Tanzania and Rwanda. With the big lead, I am now guaranteed of winning the series. So I will not be travelling to the rest of the countries that will host the remaining legs.’’
By winning the Ugandan Rally, Baryan and his navigator, Drew Sturrock scored their third victory out of the five current rounds of the 2019 African Rally Championship. He first won the opening round of the 2019 ARC, the Cote d’Ivoire Rally, followed by victories in Zambia and Uganda later.
Meanwhile, Mombasa Motor Club will run a night stage in its round of the 2019 KCB Kenya National Rally Championship from August 16 to 18. The night stage will be staged on the Mombasa Cement Grounds and will stretch over a distance of 16.21 kilometres.
Roy Mackenzie, the clerk of course for the major event, is confident the competition will go as planned.
“The rally will start from the KCB branch in Kilifi. The Shortest stage will be five kilometres long and the longest 42 kilometres. In total we will have nine competitive stages totaling 160 kilometres,” said Mackenzie.
The second day’s action will run on Saturday, with cars heading to Bamba before returning to the finish at the Mombasa Cement. There will be five more KNRC rounds left after the Coast event. They are Nanyuki leg of KNRC to be run from August 31 to September 1, Simba Union Club leg (October 19 to 20, Rallye Sports Club (November 9 to 10) and Eldoret Rally (November 23 to 24).
Meanwhile, the headquarters of the Kenya Motor Sports Federation has moved to the Moi Sports Centre, Kasarani which hosts the Safari Rally World Rally Championship Project offices.
“We write to inform you that we have relocated our KMSF Office from the Sikh Union Club to Moi Sports Center, Kasarani Stadium Unit Nine along Thika Road effective August 5, 2019. Our contacts will remain the same as before,” KMSF said in a statement on Monday.
