Karan enroute to possible ARC Equator Rally victory

Karan Patel opened a 2 minutes 47 seconds lead over Jeremiah Wahome at the end of leg one of the Equator Rally in Voi Today.

Patel, Navigated by Tauseef Khan in a Ford Fiesta R2, is set for victory barring any misfortunes in this rally which ends today after only 49km of competitive running. It is the second in the Africa championship after Cote d'Ivoire last month.

Wahome and Victor Okundi drove their Ford Fiesta R3 cautiously after it suffered from overheating problems to finish second after top challenger Hamza Anwar and team mate’s Ford Fiesta broke the left shaft belt in the second afternoon loop.

He will hopefully re-join the rally aiming for a podium finish to earn valuable points in the Africa Championship.

Patel won five of the eight competitive stages and was only upstaged in three by Anwar, Jas Mangat and Wahome.

Ugandan Yasin Nasser was lying third at the end of the leg in 1:54.45.8 followed by Aakif Virani who managed to have his car Skoda Fabia fixed on Friday evening after hitting a tree during qualifying round.

“It has not been an easy day,” said Patel. “We lost our rear brakes in the first loop and were forced to depend on the front brakes which tend to overheat.

“The heat takes a toll on the drivers and the car, but thankfully we are here at the end of day 1, a very small percentage of the rally remains tomorrow so hopefully everything holds up.” 

Wahome recalled that his car suffered the same overheating problems it encountered in the Machakos Rally last month despite finishing first overall.

“The morning loop was quite okay. We were quick and maybe made some 1 or 2 mistakes. Afternoon we really started struggling with overheating so just like in Machakos we will have to lift off the gas switch off the stage mode. In the last stage we had to stop twice because the car went on safe mode or what we call limp mode, making us lose time.”

Veteran Asad Anwar returning to rallying after a decade said that he was simply enjoying himself. “We had a good day. We had a lot of fun. Everything was in sync in the car, the notes are good.”

Physically challenged Nikil Sachania was all smiles at the end in ninth: “It has been a very hot day and I think it has taken a lot from the drivers, myself included.

RESULTS

1: Karan Patel/Tauseef Khan, Ford Fiesta R2, 1:49.21.3; 2: Jeremiah Wahome/Victor Okundi, Ford Fiesta R3, 1:52:08.3; 3: Yasin Nasser/Ali Katumba (UG), Ford Fiesta R2, 1:54:45.8; 4: Aakif  Virani/Azhar Bhutt, Skoda Fabia R5, 1:56:25.4; 5: Jasmeet Chana/Ravinder Chana, Mitsubishi Lancer EVO 10, 1:5649.5; 6: Jas Mangat/Joseph Kamya (UG), Mitsubishi Lancer EVO 10, 1:57:00.5; 7: Izhar Mirza/Kavit Dave, Mitsubishi Lancer EVO 10,2:02:28.0; 8: Asad Anwar/Shamir Yusuf, Mitsubishi Lancer EVO 10, 2:03:05.6; 9:Nikil Sachania/Deep Patel, Mitsubishi Lancer EVO 10, 2:05:25.3; 10: Kush Patel/Mudasar Chaudry, Subaru Impreza GC8, 2:18:28.6; 11: Nzioka Waita/Tuta Mionki, Mitsubishi Lancer EVO 10, 2:50:10.2.