Karan Patel wins KNRC title in style

Karan Patel and his navigator, Tauseef Khan are the 2022 Kenya National Rally Champions after winning the Guru Nanak Rally on Sunday.

The crew was at the wheels of a Ford Fiesta. Patel, who had to stay ahead of Jasmeet Chana in the final round of the KBL-sponsored event, won the Guru Nanak Rally quite convincingly.

‘’I am extremely happy to have won the top crown. I am proud of my parents who had put in so much effort in supporting my rallying career from 2014. We are very proud,’’ Karan told Nation Sport.

This was his eighth victory of the 2022 season in addition to more wins in the 2022 African Rally Championship where he participated.

Chana finished in fourth overall place at the wheels of his Mitsubishi Lancer. That left him with a total of 228 points in the overall standings compared to Patel’s final score of 230 points.

“One of the clips came off the turbo pipe in stage four thus we lost power and could not go faster. Same thing happened in Stage five and again we lost the boost,” said Chana.

Chana added: “We are very happy with our performance this season though losing the title in the final event of the season. We thank our sponsors and our team for the brilliant support.”

Unfortunately, Patel failed to clinch the 2023 ARC Title which was won by Leroy Gomes of Zambia. Though Patel had proved unbeatable in all the events he took part in.

Gomes had contested the first two rounds of the series which helped him maintain the lead of the ARC table to the end.

Patel failed to take part in those events but went on to win all the remaining rounds that he participated in.

Baldev Chager, who has won the Guru Nanak on three different occasions, finished in second place. Chager was testing his Porsche 911 for the forthcoming Mini Classic Rally which he has won for the last four seasons.

Ian Duncan, who was also testing his Nissan for the East African Safari Classic Rally, failed to finish the rally due to mechanical failure.

Leonardo Varese and Kigo Kariethi clinched the 2022 National Formula Two Championship title for the sixth time though the crew failed to finish the Guru Nanak Rally. Their Toyota Auris rally car overshot a corner.

Former motocross champion, Anthony Nielsen, who has regularly navigated Duncan in several other rallies, swapped seats to drive in the Guru Nanak at the wheels of a Mitsubishi Lancer.

With William Bass as his navigator, the crew finished in third place.

Nikhil Sachania continued with his commendable performance by finishing in fifth place driving a specially prepared Mitsubishi Lancer. Sachania is the sole handicapped driver in the KNRC series.

Provisional results

1.  Karan Patel/Tauseef Khan (Ford Fiesta) 109:56.2secs

2.  Baldev Chager/Gareth Dawe (Porsche 911) 119:12.5

3.  Anthony Nielsen/William Bass (Mitsubishi Lancer) 120:33.3

4.  Jasmeet Chana/Ravi Chana (Mitsubishi Evolution10) 124:40.6

5.  Nikhil Sachania/Deep Patel (Mitsubishi Evolution10) 124:48.9

6.  Kush Patel/Mudasar Chaudry (Subaru Impreza) 131:38.1

7.  Amman Shah/Rahil Shah (Subaru Internet a) 135:34.7

8.  Daren Miranda/Vinay Varsani (Subaru Impreza) 144