Kenya’s Karan Patel leads Uganda’s Jas Mangat by nine points with the title at stake at the season-ending ARC rally in Tanzania this weekend
Kenya's Karan Patel and Uganda's Jas Mangat will renew their rivalry in the season-closing FIA African Rally Championship (ARC) ASAS Rally of Tanzania this weekend.
Uganda's Yasin Nasser has an outside chance after a bad outing in Zambia where he retired last month, but Patel only needs a podium finish to win the title currently held by Ndola-based Leroy Gomes.
Patel and his partner Tauseef Khan were the star attractions at last year's ARC series and despite beating Gomes in blistering fashion on his home turf in Zambia's season finale, the Kenyan speedster saw the title elude him after a spirited fight.
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And having already taken some impressive scalps at continental stage over the past two seasons, Patel will be looking to seal a maiden African title in Iringa this weekend.
Patel's march to the ARC summit this year has been phenomenon, but not without scares. He had a wild practice session at the Zambia ARC Rally last month where a heart-pounding video of his Ford Fiesta Rally2 marque rolling went viral on social media.
However, Patel and team worked tirelessly and managed to repair the car just in time for qualifying in Lusaka and went in to win the Zambian leg with vim and vigour.
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Despite skipping the crowd-pulling Pearl of Africa Uganda Rally and Rallye Bandama of Ivory Coast, Patel bounced back with four wins in Kenya (Equator), Rwanda, Burundi and Zambia to snatch the lead from long time leader Yasin Nasser.
It will be interesting to witness how the season finale goes in the central Tanzania region.
Patel has a nine-point advantage over Jas Mangat on the ARC log but Nasser will also be waiting just in case the top two to falter.
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Another Kenyan driver Hamza Anwar will be hoping to defend the FIA ARC Junior title against local Prince Charles Nyerere who leads the junior category with 78 against his 60.
Anwar retired with a bad clutch in Zambia and some small gremlins and lost vital points when he restarted the final day on the Super Rally rule to finish fifth. The super rally allows retired crews to re-join a rally the following day after fixing the damage on their cars.
ARC STANDINGS AFTER PENULTIMATE ZAMBIA MOTOR RALLY
1. Karan Patel (Kenya) 120
2. Jas Mangat (UG) 111
3. Yassir Nasser (UG) 93
4. Innocent Bwamiki (UG) 55
5. Prince Charles Nyerere (TZ) 55
6. Hamza Anwar (Kenya) 42
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