By Frank Kaheesi- Head FMU Media
“So we are all ok as the playing field is still level” as remarked by Karan Patel after the completion of the 49th Bandama rally.
IVORIAN speedster Gary Chaynes reigned victoriously to his seventh Bandama rally win, after beating his fellow homeboys by a massive margin of 24 minutes, 58.7 seconds.
Co-driven by Romain Cosmas in Mitsubishi Evox, the Orange-sponsored crew swept clean all stages from day one to end with the fastest time of two hours,12 minutes 11.6 seconds.
It’s however unclear whether the 2014 African Rally champion will compete for this year’s ARC even after not registering to score points at his home event.
“No I can’t participate in the ARC this year, I don’t have the budget,” said Gary when contacted after the rally.
This created a breather and levelled grounds for interested contenders like Kenya’s Karan Patel, Piero Canabbio and Uganda’s Yasin Nasser, who plan to embark on their African title dreams starting with the 2023 Equator rally in Voi set for 17th-19th March 2023.
The three will take on the Championship in their state-of-art R5 machines, Patel and Nasser in Ford Fiesta and Canabbio in a Hyundai i20.
“So we are all ok as the playing field is still level” as remarked by Karan Patel after the completion of the 49th Bandama rally.
Patel lost the 2022 ARC title to the Zambian crew of Leroy and Urshlla Gomez, who had earlier scored points in Cote d’Ivoire that the Kenyan missed, and had the title scores settled at the last round in Zambia.
“No one has scored points in the ARC as yet after the Bandama rally although there were 3 ARC entries, none of the Entrants has registered with the FIA to score in the championship,” remarked, William Louw, FIA African coordinator and Safety delegate.
This signals an open battlefield at the second round of the African Rally Championship in Voi, Kenya. The organizers are hoping for a good turnout of ARC entries, as it may be logistically better for crews entering the next six rounds on the ARC Calendar.
