Nakuru Rally recce now a day earlier on Friday
Ian Duncan, navigated by Antony Nielsen, in an Rover Vitesse tackle a wet section in Monduli around Arusha in Tanzania during day two of the East African Safari Classic Rally on November 29, 2019.
What you need to know:
- Mombasa-based Paras Pandya and his nephew Falqun Pandya will be tackling the rally. “I am happy the calendar has resumed and we hope it stays that way.
- However, the one year out has given us time to focus on work and family more. We look forward to 2021 season and what it shall bring,” said Falqun while speaking to Nation Sport.
The KCB Nakuru Rally will kick off on Friday with the official reconnaissance of the route and scrutineering of the rally cars at the Soysambu circuit.
Ali Aljabri, the event director of the opening round of the 2012 KCB Kenya National Rally Championship, said the change of the programme was to help competitors from as far as Mombasa to be able to come and tackle the rally and return to their homes by Sunday latest.
“Initially, the rally programme was set to start on Saturday with the recce of the route in the morning and end with rally action on Sunday, but we have made the changes to accommodate plans for the upcountry drivers. The programme will start on Friday and finish by Saturday,’’ Aljabri told Nation Sport.
Soysambu Service Park will host the administration and documentation areas on Friday which will be followed scrutineering of rally cars and the official beginning of recce of the route.
The venue will then be the main Service Park for the event on the day of the competition.
Three stages will be repeated as part of the programme that will be centred around Soysambu and Elementaita areas. The stages will be Sosyambu (32.10 Kms), Elementaita (18.79 Kms) and Sleeping Warrior (19.80 Kms).
The longest stage will be the Sosyambu section of 32.10km. The total distance will be 175.80km of which competitive distance will be 141.38 kms.
The rally is set to start at 8am and finish at around 3.45pm on Saturday.
According to the organisers, there is no threat from the recent rains as the stages will be on all types of weather conditions.
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Mombasa-based Paras Pandya and his nephew Falqun Pandya will be tackling the rally.
“I am happy the calendar has resumed and we hope it stays that way.
However, the one year out has given us time to focus on work and family more. We look forward to 2021 season and what it shall bring,” said Falqun while speaking to Nation Sport.
“We are driving the Mitsubishi EvoX in Group N Classification. Among our past results include fifth place in the 2019 Mombasa Rally and ninth place in the Guru Nanak Rally of 2018.”
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Karan Patel, who won the Arusha Rally in Tanzania last December, said he was excited and looking forward to the KCB Nakuru Rally.
“Yes, I am very keen to get back into the action and I am looking forward to a good season. We will be in the Ford Fiesta R5 with Tauseef Khan as my navigator,’’ said Patel in his discussion with Nation Sport.
Drivers are eagerly waiting to get into their cars though Covid-19 factor has played lots of mind games, creating lots of negativity and tensions while organisers try to plan for major events in the country.
