Stig Blomqvist and his partner Jorgen Fornander attacked the penultimate day of the East African Safari Classic Rally winning all the three stages on offer.
The all-Swedish crew dominated the day’s itinerary from start to finish as classic cars pulled in to Sarova Whitesands Hotel in Mombasa for the final overnight rest.
But the former world champion went to bed convinced that today’s action, which folds the curtain to the prestigious nine-day event, will not be a walk in the park after Austrian Kris Rosenberger took second fastest times on the three stages behind the wheels of a Porche 911.
Blomqvist savoured the lead at the penultimate stage but his slim seven-second cushion over Austrian speedster Rosenberger will give the Flying Swede some sleepless nights.
Kris has driven quite aggressively in the classic this year’s and worthy of note is how he clung onto to the overnight lead at some point in the gruelling competition.
After eight-days of brilliant displays and mud, it’s six seconds between Stig and Kris and four between Kenya’s Onkar Rai and Philip Kadoorie and it will be down to the wire. A puncture, an off or bad landing could make all the difference.
Following multiple gremlins, Kenyan boys have had to contend with playing second fiddle to foreigners with Onkar being the top placed, a distant third.
Baldev Chager and Ian Duncan have had their insatiable appetite for success reduced to misery. Chager who led the pack after the first day is sitting 14th and Duncan 16th.
Tejveer Rai is lying eighth while Aslam Khan clung onto 11th despite a tough outing yesterday.
Aslam Khan was left to rue a jinxed day which saw them dip to 11th place.
He said: “Absolutely gutted! We broke a steering arm on the second stage of the day and spent a lot of time trying to get it right. We lost a lot of time and got time barred. Thanks to officials, Jamie McTavish and Geoff Mayes for keeping us rehydrated as we tried to fix it and complete repairs.”
Day 8 Results after SS21 Maungu 2
1. Stig Blomqvist/Jorgen Fornander (Porsche 911) 12:11:43.0
2. Kris Rosenberger/Nicola Bleicher (Porsche 911) 12:11:49.8
3. Onkar Singh Rai/.Drew Sturrock (Porsche 911) 12:42:36.7
4. Philip Kadoorie/ Ryan Champion (Porsche 911) 12:45:58.9
5.Roger Samuelsson/Robin Friberg (Porsche 911) 14:07:38.6
6.Trey Lockey/ Julia Svensson (Porsche 911) 15:27:32.1
7. Eugenio Amos/Roberto Mometti (Porsche 911) 14:20:10.2
8.Tejveer Singh Rai/Gavin Laurence Porsche 911 ) 15:07:29.6
9.Osian Pryce/Dale Furniss (Ford Escort-Oman) 13:32:35.7
10 Aslam Khan/Imran Khan (Porsche 911) 16:45:21.9
11 Scott Armstrong /Harpal Singh Sudle (Datsun 160J) 16:51:48.9
12.Joe Hayes/Kate Hayes (Porsche 911) 17:34:57.0
13.Bernhard Kessel/Ronny Kessel (Porsche 911) 21:35:01.7
14.Baldev Singh Chager /Ravi Soni (Porsche 911) 16:42:38.0
15 Renee Brinkerhoff/Juliette Brinkerhoff (Porsche)22:03:17.8
16. Ian Duncan/ Anthony Nielsen (Rover Vitesse) 311:31:45.0
