Tundo takes overnight lead in ARC Equator Rally as big names exit

Minti Motorsport's Carl ‘Flash’ Tundo holds the overnight lead after an energy-sapping first day on the Africa Rally Championship (ARC) Equator Rally.

Tundo was peerless on the day's run, winning all the six stages to close Day One on a cumulative total of 1:39:14.4 hours.

The five-time Safari Rally winner has a comfortable 7:15.1 minutes lead over compatriot Tejveer Rai going into the last day stages at Malewa, Kedong, and Loldia.

“We took it fairly easy in the second loop when we saw Boldy (Baldev Chager) and Onkar (Rai) out. The last 5-km of Sleeping Warrior was a Rhino Charge rather than rallying. But at the end of the day, we came through clean. We have done Day 1 and we await a fresh challenge on Day 2 tomorrow (Sunday),” said Tundo.

Tundo was happy with the handling of his new VW Polo R5, saying he is looking forward to running it on WRC Safari Rally in June. “The new car (VW Polo) is all good. I’m driving it to my ability but the car definitely has more and it's certainly better than the Evo 10 as it’s a purpose-built rally car and state-of-the-art machine. The Mitsubishi is a road car.”

The day’s action claimed a number of frontrunners including Baldev Chager, Onkar Rai, Karan Patel, Ugandan duo Duncan Mubiru, Ronald Ssebuguzi, and Jas Mangat. Other casualties were Waita Nzioka, Isa Amwari, John Nganga, Ugandan Rajiv Ruparelia, Amaanraj, and Peiro Canobbio.

Ian Duncan was also a casualty of the day but will rejoin the event tomorrow on the Super Rally rule.

The opening day consisted of two passes through Lake Elmenteita whose shores host zebras, gazelles, warthogs, and diverse species of birds.

 LEG 1 RESULTS-SATURDAY

1. Carl Tundo - Tim Jessop (KEN-Volkswagen Polo GTI R5) 1:39:14.4hours

2. Tejveer Rai- Gareth Dawe (KEN-Volkswagen Polo GTI R5) 1:46:29.5

3. Guy Botterill - Simon Vacy-Lyle (RSA-Toyota Etios R5)       1:59:28.4

4.Giancarlo Davite - Sylvia Vindevogel (RWA-Mitsubishi Lancer Evo X) 2:03:12.9

5. Hamza Anwar - Riyaz Ismail (KEN-Subaru Impreza WRX STi) 2:03:27.9

6. Kepher Walubi - Mohammed Asuman (UG-Mitsubishi Lancer Evo X) 2:06:19.6

7. Jasmeet Chana - Ravinder Chana (Mitsubishi Lancer Evo X) 2:06:31.3

8. Steven Mwangi- Dennis Mwenda (Subaru Impreza) 2:07:58.5

9. Evans Kavisi - Absalom Aswani (Mitsubishi Lancer Evo X) 2:08:19.6

10. Aakif Virani - Azhar Bhatti (Škoda Fabia R5) 2:09:30.2

11. Kailesh Chauhan - Tariq Maliq (Ford Escort RS)        2:13:10.

12. McRae Kimathi - Shameer Yusuf (Subaru Impreza)2:13:16.2 13.

13. Eric Bengi - Peter Mutuma (KEN Mitsubishi Lancer Evo X) 2:19:21.4

14. Edward Maina - John Ngugi (KEN-Subaru Impreza)          2:24:25.2

15. Nikhil Sachania - Deep Patel (Mitsubishi Lancer Evo X) 2:24:27.5  

16. Daren Miranda - Wayne Fernandes (KEN-Subaru Impreza) 2:27:27.6

17. Yasin Nasser - Ali Katumba (KEN-Subaru Impreza WRX) 2:33:43.2

18. Geoff Mayes - Suzanne Zwager (KEN-Land Rover Tomcat SPV)  2:35:06.1