Kenya’s Patel has sights on Pearl Rally victory
Reigning Africa rally champion Karan Patel starts this year’s Pearl of Africa Rally optimistic of victory. Patel and Taussef Khan, in a Skoda Fabia, are on their third visit to Uganda for the Africa Rally Championship round. Their second visit last year was rather absurd as it did not materialise into any results. The crew made […] The post Kenya’s Patel has sights on Pearl Rally victory appeared first on Kawowo Sports.
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Reigning Africa rally champion Karan Patel starts this year’s Pearl of Africa Rally optimistic of victory.
Patel and Taussef Khan, in a Skoda Fabia, are on their third visit to Uganda for the Africa Rally Championship round. Their second visit last year was rather absurd as it did not materialise into any results. The crew made the trip to Uganda only to withdraw from the rally after day one of Recce citing bad weather.
The year before, Karan was undoubtedly in some thrilling pace until he hit a bank that pushed him to finish ninth overall.
The Kenyan is now in the Pearl to rewrite history.
“I am here to win the event. I have now overcome my fears for wet stages. So I am ready for any conditions this weekend, he said.
“All I want is to collect maximum points for the championship. So that’s the target,” he added.
Karan will go neck and neck with Uganda’s Jas Mangat in the fight for ARC points this weekend.
Karan got off the blocks and has shown early intent with the fastest time in the qualifying stage. He was 1.7 seconds quicker than Kenyan counterpart Hamza Anwar with Jas Mangat in third; 4.2 seconds slower.
The crews proceeded to a shakedown with Mangat nipping Karan by 0.6 seconds.
Rally starts tomorrow with seven stages and later three stages on Sunday to cover a total competitive distance of 209.45 kilometers.
Karan will go fifth on the road after Has Mangat and Hamza Anwar.
The post Kenya’s Patel has sights on Pearl Rally victory appeared first on Kawowo Sports.
