NEXT YEAR’S Mt. Gorilla rally is set to run in July as opposed to its traditional mid-year schedule. The famous event will be held on the weekend of July 19-20, according to the 2014 Motorsports Calendar released early this week.The next Mt. Gorilla Rally will count towards the fifth and penultimate round of the FIA African Rally Championship (ARC) series which revs off with Rallye Bandama of Cote d’Ivoire between March 1 and 2.Other countries in which the ARC will crisscross are Tanzania, Zambia, South Africa (Sasol Rally), Kenya (Safari Rally) and Madagascar Rally which folds the curtains to the eight-leg ARC series.The driver and navigator champions for the ARC will be feted in the FIA Annual Awards gala alongside the Formula 1, WRC and FIA regional rally champions.This year’s continental competition was won by the all-Zambian crew of Jassy Singh and Dave Sihoka.Jassy is son of the legendary two times African champion Muna Singh while Sihoka has three ARC co-drivers titles under his belt, two of which he clinched with the former.Among the drivers who will be gearing up for the ARC challenge are this year’s runners-up Giancarlo Davite of Rwanda, Jas Mangat of Uganda and Essa Mohammed of Zambia.National rally champion Giancarlo Davite won this year’s Rwanda Mountain Gorilla Rally title with a comfortable 24.34 seconds lead over close foe and compatriot Elefter Mitraros, with Uganda’s Christakis Fitidis completing the podium 26.29 seconds late.