Kenya’s Karan Patel and Uganda’s Jas Mangat will renew their FIA African Rally Championship (ARC) rivalry in the season-closing 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. Karan only needs a podium finish to win the coveted title currently held by Ndola-based Leroy Gomes.
Karan and his partner Tauseef Khan were the star attraction 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 missed the crown.
Having already taken some impressive scalps at the continental stage over the past two seasons, Karan will be looking to seal a maiden African title in Iringa this weekend. Karan’s march to the ARC summit this year has been a phenomenon, but not without scares.
Karan had a wild practice session at the Zambia ARC Rally last month, where a video of his Ford Fiesta Rally2 marque rolling went viral on social media. Karan and the team have since repaired the car just in time for the Zambian leg.
Despite skipping the crowd-pulling Pearl of Africa Uganda Rally and Rallye Bandama of Ivory Coast, Karan bounced back with four wins in Kenya (Equator), Rwanda, Burundi, and Zambia to snatch the lead from longtime leader Nasser. It will be interesting to witness how the season finale goes in the Central Tanzania region.
Karan has a nine-point advantage over Mangat on the ARC log but Nasser will also be waiting just in case the top two falter.
Another Kenyan driver Hamza Anwar will be hoping to defend the FIA ARC Junior title against local Prince Charles Nyerere. Nyerere leads the junior category with 78 against Hamza’s 60.
