Grueling Safari rally: Super rally rule comes in handy for ARC contenders

The weekend WRC Safari rally Kenya was one of the most grueling ever.

The world championship round which also was the first round of the African rally championship could have ended without an Africa rally championship finisher.

But much to the super rally rule, the ARC had its line up of finishers.

12 crews were eligible to score ARC points. 

The treacherous nature of the rally resulted in a series of mechanical problems for the crews, forcing most out on the second leg of the race.

However, six crews would benefit from the Super rally rule to ensure their continuation to the end. 

A super rally rule gives an opportunity to a crew that has retired on the day to continue with the race the next day. 

However, the crew will carry five minutes penalty for each stage missed. 

The crew of Carl Tundo, Jeremiah Wahome, Yasin Nasser, Samman Vohra, Sachania Nikhil, Rathod Minesh leveraged from the super rally rule.

Category winner Carl Tundo and Tim Jessop in a Ford Fiesta Rally2 drove part of leg three with power steering issues. 

The car gave up in Soysambu; the last stage on Saturday forcing their retirement.

Tundo was well positioned having gained a huge advantage in the earlier legs. He returned on Sunday under super rally with his lead not affected. He would win the rally by 18mins and 30secs. 

Jeremiah Wahome and Victor Okundi in a Skoda Fabia rally2 had issues on Friday. 

They returned on Saturday to go ahead and secure second position in the ARC.

Yasin Nasser and Ali Katumba in the Ford Fiesta rally2 equally had misfortunes in the morning loop on Friday. A broken front left arm dented all hope of covering the day’s six stages. 

The Moil rally team had their car fixed over night to continue incident free through Saturday to the last day on Sunday. 

The Uganda crew secured their maiden Safari rally finish with a third place position in the ARC category.

Kenya’s Samman Vohra and Drew Sturrock in a Skoda Fabia rally2 equally had issues on Friday. The crew managed to push on despite power steering challenges. They would finish forth on ARC. 

Among the six Safari rally finishers, Yasin Nasser, Jeremiah Wahome and Samman Vohra showed their intent to enter the ARC title chase this year. 

The secure points will be valuable for the crews ahead of the second round of the Africa rally championship. 

Among the ARC crews that did not survive the grueling Safari rally include reigning ARC champion Karan Patel, Hamza Anwar among others. 

The next round of Africa rally championship heads to Uganda for the Pearl of Africa rally in May. 

Drivers’ ARC points after Safari rally

Carl Tundo                  30points

Jeremiah Wahoma     24

Yasin Nasser               21

Samman Vohra           19

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