The 2014 National Rally Championship will kick off next month with the Sprint rally on February 8 in Gahanga, according to the provisional calendar released by the Rwanda Automobile Club [RAC] on Wednesday.According the RAC boss Christian Gakwaya, the season will comprise of seven competitive rounds with Rallye de l’Est second on the grid on March 22.The two-day Rallye de Huye ‘Memorial Gakwaya’ will be held from June 7-8, while the Rwanda Mountain Gorilla Rally, the biggest of them all, is set to be staged from July 18-20.Rally Sprint on September 1 and Rallye du Nord on October 18 are the fifth and sixth rounds on the rally championship, and Rallye des 1000 Collines will crown the season on December 8.Last year, Davite Giancarlo continued his dominance on the local scene after retaining the National Rally Championship with 138 points on the back of winning the Sprint rally, Mt. Gorilla rally and Rally de Huye.Giancarlo, who finished the 2013 Africa Rally Championship in third position, has won five national rally championships. He previously won the national rally championship in 2008, 2009, 2011 and 2012.However, in the race for the ARC title, he lost to the all-Zambian crew of Jassy Singh and Dave Sihoka plus Uganda’s Jas Mangat who finished in second position.In the first seven ARC rounds, the Italy-born driver finished just two sections; he abandoned the other five due to mechanical problems.