What you need to know :
ARC standing after Zambia:
- Karan Patel 120
- Jas Mangat 111
- Yasin Nasser 93
WHAT had turned out to be a Karan Patel and Leroy Gomez affair, with a one-second separation of the two after leg 1, finally had the scores settled when the Zambian hit a hidden tree stump on stage 13.
Gomez embarked on his fierce battle with Patel in the Chartonel stage, where picked 20 seconds off him, but was the same way rewarded in the Bull stage, Patel clinching the lead in the Waterfalls stage with 12 seconds.
This sent both teams to high charging, before the repeat of the Bull stage, where Gomez co-driven by his wife Urshlla, painfully dropped out.
“Our hearts are ok. We didn’t win it for mother Zambia this time…. But we sure did have fun trying,” a message from the Gomes Racing teams read on Social Media.
After Leroy’s fate, Patel decided to let ease the pace in the last three stages, having Uganda’s Jas Mangat pull off some seconds from him, but couldn’t turn the tables around, ending the rally second overall, one minute 33 seconds apart.
Patel resumes the lead of the ARC with 120 points, Mangat in second position with 111, and Nasser in third place with 93 points.
Hamza Anwar who had an undeniably bad outing on day one, with a number of mechanical gremlins, and returned on day two under super rally, got his podium finish chances brightened when Moil’s Yasin Nasser got forced out of the event by a gearbox problem with two stages to go.
“Good afternoon, sadly we are out of the rally due to extensive gearbox damage. Inshallah we meet in Iringa,” wrote Nasser.
Another day two returnee, Tanzania’s Prince Charles Nyerere has a reason to celebrate after finishing fourth overall in ARC classification, keeping him atop of the ARC Junior championship with 69 points, Anwar second with 60 points.
Crews head to Tanzania next month for the last ARC round that will help settle their odds.
Author: Frank Kaheesi- Head FMU Media
Catch you up in Iringa……..
