Clouds of dust and splashes of mud in fight for speed glory

The just ended KCB Safari Rally was a tale of resilience and endurance seen in punctures, misfiring engines, and drama.

Car manufactures grabbed the precious chance to showcase their high-powered engines ranging from Land Rover, Ford, Subaru, Audi VW, and Toyota.

Traders did a roaring business rally enthusiasts followed the action from KICC, Machakos County, Naromoru, Nanyuki and Meru Town.

Sports and Culture Cabinet Secretary Hassan Wario flagged off the event that others have said is “one of our international sports which brings tourists to Kenya.”

Baldev Chager was the first off the ramp and, by noon, 20 rally cars had passed through the Konza stage with Finland ace Tapio Laukkanen leading followed by Raaji Bharij.

Tapio continued with his dominance at Cs2 with a time of 25.59 minutes while Raaji Bharji trailed by a minute. Hapz Sagoo rolled in his Subaru Impreza while Imran Mogul was disappointed after his Subaru N10 broke rear drive shafts at the Konza Stage. Others who dropped out on Day One were Rupesh Chauhan, Khan and Rob Hellier.

Heavy downpour

By end of Day One, Tapio had powered his Subaru Impreza, navigated by Pasi Torma, to victory, with Raaji’s Mitsubishi Evolution coming in second position.

An S2000 Proton Neo Satria gave Kenya’s Carl ‘Flash’ Tundo a third place followed by Jaspreet Chatthe, Manvir Baryan, Onkar Rai, Baldev Chager then Ian Duncan, who had clocked 49 minutes 56 seconds to a top-8 finish.

The Day One leg was staged on closed private farm roads in Konza and Machakos areas.

On Saturday, action was in the Mount Kenya region where the drivers would tackle 420km on Day 2, traversing Lengetia in Naro Moru, Loldaiga in Nanyuki, Ngare Ndare, and Nkunga stretches.

The drivers tackled the Lengetia stretch for 29.75km with Ian Duncan emerging the fastest overall by a time of time 23.50 minutes, while Tapio extended his lead by 1:10.37. The real challenge came at Ngare Ndare stage.

A few minutes before the drivers covered the Ngare Ndare route, there was a heavy downpour that changed the terrain a dusty stretch to a muddy, slippery one, testing the drivers’ skill and ability to fight.

Very bad!

Tapio Laukannen proved a force to reckon with on the Loldaiga 44 km stage, going faster than Ian by 9.79 minutes.

Tapio’s Subaru, five Evo X cars, one Proton, two R5 Ford Fiestas, and a Skoda Fabia fought for the bragging rights.

Quentin was disappointed after retiring early. “This is very bad, Skoda isn’t yet strong for Africa, I am truly disappointed,” he was heard lamenting.

The Meru Forest stretch saw Farhaaz Khan retire from the rally after his Mitsubishi Evo-9 misfired, while Kibirichia, Nkunga, and Loldaiga stages sent most of the drivers packing. Tejveer Rai left at Loldaiga, Tash Di Cangio at Kibirichia, the land of Irish potatoes.

Nikhil Sachania was lucky to escape unhurt after his Fiat crashed with a police Landcruiser after a gear failure at the exit of the last stage.

By mid-afternoon, the Kisima stage was cancelled since there was less time left. With Finland’s Tapio Laukannen out, eyes focused on Ian Duncan , Carl Tundo and Jaspreet Chatthe who were dominating most of the stages.

Tundo grabbed the lead. By 11.30am, 31 seconds were separating Chatthe and Duncan and it was whether Chatthe would beat Kenya’s six times champions.

At Kibirichia market, the only women in the race Tash Tundo and her navigator Chantel were locked out after their car broke down due to a clutch failure.

Baldev was the hero with three stages to go as he navigated the Spectators stage at the ASK showground, followed by Manvir, Chatthe, Rajbir, Ian and Tundo.

At the final bend, it was Jaspreet Chatthe in his Evo 10 followed by Ian Duncan and Tundo racing for honours.

But it was Jaspreet who powered his Lancer Evo X to an amazing podium finish.

[email protected]