Tundo wins Thika Rally
McRae Kimathi, navigated by Mwangi Kioni in a Ford Fiesta car, tackle a section of the route of the KCB Thika Rally on November 21, 2021.
What you need to know:
- According to George Njoroge, the Deputy Clerk of the Course, Aakif Virani was disqualified when his Skoda was adjudged to have taken a short cut twice in the opening stages.
- Three crews withdrew from the rally after they found the stages to be very rough during recce on the previous day. The drivers are Karan Patel (Ford Fiesta), Nikhil Sachania (Mitsubishi Lancer Evo10) and Kush Patel (Subaru Impreza).
Carl “Flash” Tundo navigated by Tim Jessop in a Mitsubishi Lancer Evo10 maintained their winning ways by clinching victory in the KCB Thika Rally Sunday.
Though the results of the previous KCB Nanyuki Rally are yet to be released, Tundo maintains the lead in the overall Kenya National Rally Championship (KNRC) standings with one more round to go in the series.
We survived it and are happy to have won the rally. It was rough and we had to be careful. We had a puncture in the first stage which cost us time but fortunately we were lucky to have won the rally. Looking forward to the last event next month,’’ Tundo told Nation Sport.
His closest rival, Baldev Chager, finished in second place a mere 29.4seconds behind Tundo at the wheels of his Volkswagen Polo with Ravi Soni as his navigator.
Chager, who has won the KNRC title four time, has also won the Safari Rally thrice. He is fresh from winning the latest Mini Classic Rally in a Porsche 911.
Tundo’s record includes winning the 2021 African Rally Championship title.
He has already won the Safari Rally fives, the East African Safari Classic Rally once and clinched the KNRC title five times.
The penultimate Thika Rally was filled with incidents right from the beginning of the event.
According to George Njoroge, the Deputy Clerk of the Course, Aakif Virani was disqualified when his Skoda was adjudged to have taken a short cut twice in the opening stages.
Three crews withdrew from the rally after they found the stages to be very rough during recce on the previous day. The drivers are Karan Patel (Ford Fiesta), Nikhil Sachania (Mitsubishi Lancer Evo10) and Kush Patel (Subaru Impreza).
Only seven out of 16 starters finished the rally. Those who dropped out include: Issa Amwari/Job Njiru (Oil cooler damage -Mitsubishi Lancer Evo10), Eric Bengi/Peter Mutuma (broke front control arm - Mitsubishi Evo10), John Fernandes/Rattos Nique (Mechanical - Subaru Impreza) and Piero Canobbio/Shameer Yusuf (Mitsubishi Lancer), Evans Kavisi/Absolom Aswani (Gear-box - Mitsubishi Evo10), Steve Mwangi/Denis Mwenda (Subaru Impreza) and Edward Maina/Anthony Gachohi (Subaru Impreza N10) were among the casualties.
The Chana brothers, Jasmeet and Ravi were placed in third place in a Mitsubishi Lancer Evo10.
Kimathi McRae and Mwangi Kioni finished in the fourth place at the wheels of a Ford Fiesta.
The crew had scored a commendable third place in the recent Rwanda Rally which was counting towards the 2021 African Rally Championship.
“We feel good and lucky to have finished the rally in fourth place without major problems. The first stage was really rough but kept it clean in the rest of the stages to maintain our good form,’’ McRae told Nation Sport.
Maxine Wahome, who finished the 2021 Mini Classic Rally as the sole female driver, finished in fifth place in the Thika Rally with Linet Ayuko in a Subaru Impreza.
DNation bodytext: Sikh Union Club also of Nairobi will close the season with its Guru Nanak Rally on December 11 and 12.
