Chager zooms past Laukannen in Mini Classic Rally
What you need to know:
- Tapio Laukannen's Porsche 911 suffered a broken stub axle.
- Ian Duncan is in the third place driving a Ford Capri.
- The final day will start at 8am from the Sarova Woodlands Hotel with three competitive stages.
Drama unfolded on the second day of the Mini Classic Rally as Tapio Laukannen was forced to drop from the leader board after his Porsche 911 suffered a broken stub axle going into the opening stage of the Day Two action.
The incident let Baldev Chager take over the lead in his Porsche 911. The former Kenya National Rally Divers Champion is now leading the three day competition going into the final day on Tuesday. Chager is now ahead of the second placed Raaji Bharij by nearly ten minutes.
Bharij seems to have sorted out the transmission problem with his Porsche 911 and is currently holding onto a commendable second place behind Chager.
Ian Duncan, one of the most famous rally drivers in Kenya having won the Safari Rally, East African Safari Classic Rally and the Kenya National Rally Championship titles on several occasions, is in the third place driving a Ford Capri.
Laukannen lost ample time after he had to limp for nearly 40 kilometers to reach his nearest Service Crew, which was stationed near Suswa. He is now placed in the fifth place, a massive 20mins adrift of the leader.
The Finn's chances of winning the rally are heavily against him unless mechanical issues hold back the front runners. With just three more stages remaining and a big difference of nearly twenty minutes between him the leader, Laukkannen has to do something special to try and win his first ever Mini Classic Rally.
The top Ford Escort MK2 of Jonathan Somen/Richard Hechle is battling it out with a commendable fifth place at the end of the second of the competition.
The final day will start at 8am from the Sarova Woodlands Hotel with three competitive stages. The stages will be through Solai/Mogotio (40kms), Loboi/Luruk (112kms) and Spa/Spa (65kms). The Hotel will host the finish of the event.
Provisional Results End of Day Two:
1. Baldev Chager/Ravi Soni (Porsche 911) 210mins.41.7secs
2. Raaji Bharij/Tej Sehmi (Porsche 911) 220.40.7
3. Ian Duncan/Anthony Nielsen (Ford Capri) 221.34.1
4. Tapio Laukkanen/Gavin Laurence (Porsche 911) 230.10.9
5. Jonathan Somen/Richard Hechle (Ford Escort MK2) 244.29.8
6. Rob Linck/Imran Khan (Porsche 911) 245.06.3
7. Ramesh Vishram/Riyaz Ismail (Ford Escort MK2) 252.31.1
8. Jayant Shah/Arshad Khan (Porsche 911) 253.36.7
9. Hamza Anwar/Shabaz Anwar (Datsun 1600sss) 298.33.1
10. Dinesh Sachania/Feisal Khan (Datsun 180B) 317.54.1
11. Yusuf Pasta/Ahmed Rashid (Ford Escort MK1) 356.34.3
