Kenya’s Tundo, S. Africa’s Botteril men to beat in Rwanda Rally

Carl Tundo

Carl Tundo and his co-driver Tim Jessop on their way to victory in their Mitsubishi Evo 10 around the beautiful backdrop of Ole Naishu stage of the 2021 Nanyuki Rally on October 9, 2021.

Photo credit: Anwar Sidi | Nation Media Group

By  Abdul Sidi

What you need to know:

  • Carl Tundo out to stop South Africa’s Guy Botteril from grabbing the 2021 African Rally Championship title from his grip.
  • Tundo, in a VW Polo, leads the ARC standings with 90 points, just a mere 17 more than Botteril (Toyota Etios) with two rounds remaining each offering a maximum of 30 points. After Rwanda the drivers will head to South Africa for the season finale.

African Rally Championship leaders Kenya’s Carl Tundo and South Africa’s Guy Botteril will be keeping a wary eye on each other in the Rwanda Mountain Gorilla Rally that begins on Saturday from 8am in Kigali.

Carl Tundo out to stop South Africa’s Guy Botteril from grabbing the 2021 African Rally Championship title from his grip.

Tundo, in a VW Polo, leads the ARC standings with 90 points, just a mere 17 more than Botteril (Toyota Etios) with two rounds remaining each offering a maximum of 30 points. After Rwanda the drivers will head to South Africa for the season finale.

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 The two-day Rwandan rally, contested on gravel roads, have 12 competitive stages with the longest being 27.10km. The shortest will be 8.30km. The total distance of the rally is 290.25km of which 195.4km will be competitive.

Tundo, an accomplished rally driver with five Safari Rally titles, one East African Safari Classic Rally win and five  Kenya National Rally Championship victories, will surely be the man to beat in Rwanda.

To underline his form, Tundo navigated by Tim Jessop, have three ARC races thus far this season, namely,  the Equator Rally (Kenya), Tanzania Rally and Zambia Rally.

There are five Kenyan crews in the list of 15 entires including three who form part of the 2021 FIA Rally Star group.

The trio are Hamza Anwar/Denis Mwenda (Mitsubishi Lancer Evo10), Maxine Wohame/Linet Ayuko ( Subaru Impreza) and McRae Kimathi/Mwangi Kioni (Ford Fiesta)

The FIA Rally Star group is for drivers between 17 and 25 years. The project is funded by FIA to detect, train and develop future rally drivers.

Provisional startlist:

1. Giancarlo Devite/Sylvia Vindevogel (Mitsubishi Lancer Evo10); 2. Carl Tundo/Tim Jessop (VW Polo); 3. Guy Botteril/Vacy-Lyle Simon (Toyota Etios); 4. Nassir Yasi/Ali Katumba (Subaru Impreza); 5. Karan Patel/Tauseef Khan (Ford Fiesta)

6. Hamza Anwar/Denis Mwenda (Mitsubishi Lancer Evo10); 7. Maxime Wohame/Linet Ayuko (Subaru Impreza); 8. McRae Kimathi/Mwangi Kioni (Ford Fiesta); 9. Din Imtiaz/Alain Rukundo (Subaru Impreza); 10. Gakwaya Jean Claude/Magambo Jean Claude (Subaru Impreza);

11. Elefterios Mitraros/Paganin Paolo (Subaru Impreza); 12. Jean Jean Giesen/Kevin Mujiji (Toyota Celica); 13. Nishimiyimana Adolphe/Ngabo Olivier (Toyota Celica); 14. Kanangire Christian/Karingirq Regis (Peugeot 205); 15. Mayaka Amingo/Saleh Salim (Peugeot 205)


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