Nikhil Sachania and co-driver Deep Patel/ FILE
Paraplegic driver Nikhil Sachania and former Kenya National Rally Championship (KNRC) winner Jasmeet 'Iceman' Chana will be out to make a strong statement at the third round of the 2026 African Rally Championship (ARC) — the Rwanda Mountain Gorilla Rally — this weekend (July 10-12).
The season revved off on March 12-15 with the iconic WRC Safari Rally before shifting to the Pearl of Uganda Rally on May 7-10.
For the third round of the continental championship, Kenya has unleashed a formidable contingent of speed merchants, spearheaded by in-form two-time African champion Karan Patel, who will once again pilot his Skoda Fabia R5.
Sachania will be behind the wheel of a Ford Fiesta alongside his trusted co-driver Deep Patel, while Chana will partner his brother Ravi in another Ford Fiesta.
Also flying the Kenyan flag is the mother-daughter duo of Tinashe and Caroline Gatimu, behind the wheel of a Ford Fiesta as well as Lisa Christoffersen and her navigator Christabell Mwangi behind a Subaru Impreza.
Aakif Virani and navigator Shah Zahir, driving a Skoda Fabia R5, together with Sameer Nanji and Zaib Azhar in a Subaru Impreza, complete the Kenyan line-up.
Sachania and Chana will be eager to bounce back with statement performances after enduring mixed fortunes in the opening two rounds.
At the Safari Rally, Patel stole the headlines by storming to victory in 4:26:54.7 to lead a Kenyan top-four sweep.
Virani (4:43:06.7) and Samman Vohra (4:46:47.1) completed the podium.
Chana placed fourth in 5:06:35.7, while Sachania came home sixth with a cumulative time of 5:15:33.4.
Patel extended his winning streak at the Pearl of Uganda Rally, clocking a cumulative 2:03:06 to finish ahead of Vohra (2:04:44) and Tanzanian Yasin Nasser (2:08:59).
Virani finished fourth in 2:07:45, while Chana (2:16:02) and Sachania (2:19:21) were fifth and sixth respectively.
Chana, a continental championship debutant, admitted the Pearl of Uganda Rally proved to be a stern test.
“We have had a rough start. First we broke two drive shafts and we decided to continue. We dropped back a lot,” said Chana.
“The first two stages on day two were good but, unfortunately, we lost power steering and again drove one stage without power steering. We came back to the service park to fix it but it was too late. We had dropped a lot of time.”
Meanwhile, Deep said the Ugandan event presented punishing conditions but was pleased to finish.
“The two days in Uganda were amazing. The course was very difficult, not as difficult as the Safari, but definitely rougher than what we have been used to in Uganda,” he said.
Patel headlines a dominant Kenyan top five with 83 points, followed by Vohra (66), Virani (60), Chana (50) and Sachania (38).
