Rally season begins in Nakuru

The 2018 Kenya National Rally Championship season revs of on Saturday with the Top Fry Nakuru Rally.

Although Nakuru Rally will be held under the umbrella of the Rift Valley Motor Sports Club, the main team will be led by the Bulgarian crew of Alexander Kovatchev who will serve ass the Clerk of the Course, and Konstantin Panayotov being the Results Officer.

The Bulgarian crew did similar job in Nakuru’s round of the Classic Rally last year. The main competition will start from the Nakuru Athletics Club on Saturday at 8am. 

Official reconnaissance of the route will be allowed on Friday, a day before the start of the event. However, drivers will not be allowed to check the stages more than two times.  

Scrutineering of cars will take place at the Nakuru Athletic Club on the same day with recce. Meanwhile, all the top drivers are expected to compete in the opening round of the 2018 KNRC season. Hamza Anwar, son of former rally ace Asad Anwar, will make his KNRC debut in the Nakuru Rally at the wheels of a Toyota Sprinter.

Hamza has already left a mark in the Autocross Championship with a good performance.

Hamza’s Toyota Sprinter was formerly owned by Alex Lairangi. Hamza will be navigated by veteran rally navigator Salim Khan.

The first round of the KNRC Series will be centred around Nakuru, with drivers covering a total distance of 367 kilometers out of which 150km will be competitive. 

Drivers will tackle one competitive stage four times, while the remaining competitive stage will be covered twice.

The longest stage of the Nakuru Rally will be 30.74km long, while the shortest will be 20.49km.

A distance of 23.36km will be on open roads, while 127km will be held in private land.