By Jejje Muhinde;
Rwanda based driver Giancarlo Davite finished in a comfortable fourth position during the weekend 2021 Africa Rally Championship Equator Rally in Naivasha, Kenya.
Davite and pace note reader Sylvia Vindevogel in the Mitsubishi Evolution 10 clocked a time of 03:06:39, having begun the first stage in 12th position.
The crew was taking part in the event which is also a precursor for the much awaited WRC Safari rally scheduled for June this year.
Kenyan five-time Safari Rally winner Carl ‘Flash’ Tundo navigated by Tim Jessop won the rally having taken control of day one of the ARC Equator Rally on Saturday.
The Minti Motorsport VW Polo R5 driver bossed in all the six stages clocking 1:39:14.4hours to widen the gap between him and closest challenger Tejveer Rai.
The crew that was driving a VW Polo for the first time, swept all of Saturday’s six stages to have a commanding lead into the final day.
Kabras’ Tajveer Rai and Gareth Dawe in VW Polo held on to their second position from day one to score their best finish for a regional event.
Uganda’s Jas Mangat and Joseph Kamya claimed third place. They had earlier dropped out but re-entered the event on the rally two rule.
Having finished fourth, Davite and Sylvia Vindevogel also clinched a comfortable second position in the ARC. Only 18 crews of the 32 that started managed to finish the event.
ARC Equator Rally 2021 final standings:
- Carl Tundo/Tim Jessop(KEN-Volkswagen Polo) 02:34:08.8 3
- Tejveer Rai/ Gareth Dawe(KEN-Volkswagen Polo) 02:46:17.4
- Jas Mangat/Kamya Joseph (UG-Mitsubishi Evolution 10) 03:03:32.1
- Giancarlo Davite/Sylvia Vindevogel (Mitsubishi Evolution 10) 03:06:39.1
- Hamza Anwar / Riyaz Ismail(KEN-Subaru Impreza GVB) 03:10:08.3
- Onkar Rai/Drew Sturrock (KEN-Volkswagen Polo) 03:11:18.5
- Jasmeet Chana/Ravi Chana (KEN-Mitsubishi Evolution 10) 03:13:38.7
- Mcrae Kimathi/ Shameer Yusuf(KEN-Subaru Impreza) 03:13:51.2
- Baldev Chager/ Ravi Soni (KEN-Mitsubishi Evolution 10) 03:14:28.4
- Steve Mwangi/ Dennis Mwenda (KEN-Subaru Impreza) 03:15:24.4
- Nzioka Waita/ Tuta Mionki (KEN-Mitsubishi Evolution 10) 03:17:30.
- Piero Canobbio/James Mwangi(KEN-Mitsubishi Evolution 10) 03:17:49.3
- Evans Kavisi /Absolom Aswani (KEN-Mitsubishi Evolution 10 03:18:20.3
- Ian Duncan/Tej Sehmi (KEN-Nissan 240RS) 03:20:43.9
- Eric Bengi/Peter Mutuma (Mitsubishi Evolution 10) 03:21:37.2
- Kailesh Chauhan /Tariq Malik(KEN-Ford Escort RS) 03:22:40.8
- Geoff Mayes/Suzanne Zwager(KEN-Land Rover Tomcat) 03:41:46.7
- Yasin Nasser/ Ali Katumba(KEN-Subaru Impreza) 04:08:13.8