Flying Finn Laukkanen takes lead at Mini Classic Rally, Chager second

Finland's Tapio Laukkanen is the overnight leader of the Safaricom 4GB-sponsored Mini Classic Rally after setting the quickest stage times in all the sections of the opening day of the competition on Sunday.

The former Kenya National Rally Drivers champion led by 2mins.19.5seconds in dominant fashion setting the fastest times in all day's sections in his Porsche 911. Breathing hard down the Finn's neck was Baldev Chager, who finished second in a similar make of car.

Legendary Ian Duncan came in third in a Ford Capri, breaking the dominance of Porsches. Raaji Bharij, the 2016 Nakuru Classic Rally winner, was fourth in yet another Porsche 911.

Sixteen cars were flagged off though 22 had initially entered the three-day competition. Among the non-starters, were Minesh Rathod, who said his Colt Lancer was not ready.

The Mini Classic will cover about 1,093 kilometres of which 563km will be competitive.

''I have not been driving well. I need to learn how to drive again since I have been quiet for a long time. We have a minor gearbox problem which we need to look at before we start again tomorrow (Monday). It is not bad so far,'' said Bharij.

Well known for his antics in the Autocross Championship, Hamza Anwar put in a good drive on Sunday in a Datsun 1600sss with his cousin, Shabaz Anwar as his navigator. The crew came in 13th.

Joey Ghose, who was formerly based in Kenya before moving to Oman, fought hard to make the top-10 with Harpal Singh in a Ford Escort MK1.

Day Two action will start at 7am on Monday from the Waterfront Mall in Karen and finish at the Sarova Woodlands Hotel, Nakuru where the first car is expected at 6.30pm. The cars will tackle the following competitive stages: Oletepesi/Railway (69.82km), Naire/Il Damat (51km) and Seyabei/Bridge (87km).

The final day of action on Tuesday will start and finish at the Sarova Woodlands Hotel with three competitive stages.

Classic Rally rules differ from the Kenya National Rally Championship series where cars can be serviced outside the designated service park zones. At the end of each day's competition there is a two-hour penalty free service period. Penalties will be applied for late arrival or return to Parc Ferme — a secure area where racing cars are driven back to after the day's action. There is no penalty for checking in early to Parc Ferme.
Road, service and competitive sections are generally held on open roads. All competitors are warned that there are other road users on the competitive sections.

Drivers are permitted to miss a maximum of one full day collectively or individually with penalties as specified in the regulations and may re-join the rally. Drivers are also permitted to miss a competitive section subject to the penalty to be applied.

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. The finishers who have missed a stage (s) will be ranked according to the number of stages missed.

Sunday results

1. Tapio Laukkanen/Gavin Laurence (Porsche 911) 76mins.51.9secs

2. Baldev Chager/Ravi Soni (Porsche 911) 79.11.4

3. Ian Duncan/Anthony/Nielsen (Ford Capri) 83.34.1

4. Raaji Bharij/Rajay Sehmi (Porsche 911) 83.54.1

5. Jonathan Somen/Richard Hechle (Ford Escort MK2) 89.27.9

6. Rob Linck/Imran Khan (Porsche 911) 98.39.8

7. Joey Ghose/Harpal Singh (Ford Escort MK1) 92.10.5

8. Jayant Shah/Arshad Khan (Porsche 911) 91.41.1

9. Aslam Khan/Kashif Sheikh (Porsche 911) 95.32.2

10. Ramesh Vishram/Riyaz Ismail (Ford Escort MK2) 96.06.6

11. Ben Woodhams/Cor Roest (Ford Capri) 94.47.2

12. Nish Lakhani/Teeku Patel (Datsun 1600) 105.39.3

13. Hamza Anwar/Shabaz Anwar (Datsun 1600sss) 105.45.1

14. Dinesh Sachania/Feisal Khan (Datsun 180B) 111.32.2

15. Kailesh Chauhan/Tariq Malik (Ford Escort RS 1800) 138.07.6

16. Yusuf Pasta/Ahmed Rashid (Ford Escort MK1) 139.01.0