Tundo, Jessop take title hunt to Zambia
Kenyan driver Carl "Flash" Tundo, navigated by Timothy Jessop, steer their Volkswagen Polo WRC during the Oserian stage of the 2021 Safari Rally Kenya on June 25, 2021.
What you need to know:
- Tundo and Jessop currently lead the 2021 African Rally Championship season, having won the Equator Rally in Kenya and the Tanzanian event in a Volkswagen Polo car
- Tundo’s aim is to win the ARC title for the first time in his rallying career
- Manvir Baryan was the last Kenyan driver to have won the African Rally Championship title on three different occasions
When the Zambian Rally is flagged off Saturday morning in Lusaka, Carl Tundo and Tim Jessop will fly the Kenyan flag, hoping to collect crucial points in the race for the 2021 African Rally Championship title.
Tundo and Jessop currently lead the 2021 African Rally Championship season, having won the Equator Rally in Kenya and the Tanzanian event in a Volkswagen Polo car entered by Minti Motorsports UK.
The Kenyan crew is part of the 19 entries received by organisers of the two-day Zambian Rally as at Friday evening.
Other than Tundo, there are two other foreign drivers in the Zambian Rally. They are Guy Botteril of South Africa and Yassir Nassir of Uganda. Lerroy Gomes is the only Zambian driver who will score points towards the African Rally Championship. The other drivers from Zambia will only score points towards the Zambian Rally Championship.
South Africa and Rwanda will host the final two events of the 2021 African Rally Championship series which will be run by the respective hosts.
Chasing first win
Tundo’s aim is to win the ARC title for the first time in his rallying career. He has already won the Safari Rally five times, the East African Safari Classic Rally once, and has clinched the Kenya National Rally Championship title on five different occasions.
Manvir Baryan was the last Kenyan driver to have won the African Rally Championship title on three different occasions. He won his last African title in 2019 before the series was put on hold due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
Meanwhile, four former national rally drivers will take charge of the Nanyuki Rally.
The event, which is the seventh round of the 2021 KCB Kenya National Rally championship, will be staged on October 8 and 9 by the slopes of Mount Kenya.
Bimal Patel will be the event’s director and Bharat Pattni the clerk of course.
Hitesh Chouhan will be the competitor relation officer and Nazir Yakub the club steward.
Chouhan, who is now based in the UK, is expected to fly back to Kenya in the first week of October.
"I was a navigator for about eight years. I navigated for Kunal Pattni, Tejveer Rai and Ghalib Hajee. But now I am concentrating on rally management only," Pattni told Nation Sport.
Yakub navigated for Chouhan in a few rallies before the latter turned co-driver and navigated Patel.
The KCB Nanyuki Rally will be organised under the umbrella of Nanyuki Rally Group which falls under the Kenya Motor Sports Federation.
The rally programme will start with the official reconnaissance of the stages on October 8. The main competition will take place on October 9.
Cedar Mall in Nanyuki will host the Rally Headquarters. Greystone Ranch will host the start and finish of the main competition.
