Bandama rally results

2. Morifere Soumaoro [Civ] - 2:13:04.8

3. Marc Molinie         [Civ] - 2:19:49.6

4. Thibaut Sans         [Civ] - 2:26:32.0

5. Ali Jaber         [Civ] - 2:26:50.4

6. Loic Malherbe         [Civ] - 2:27:33.9

7. Pierrick Artault [Civ] - 2:28:54.4

8. Giancarlo Davite [Rwa] - 2:30:16.2

9. Pascal Brossier [Civ] - 2:30:23.7

10. Luc Jacquelin [Civ] - 2:33:07.8

ARC standing

1. Gary Chaynes (Civ) - 25 

2. Morifere Soumaoro (Civ) - 18

3. Davite Giancarlo (Rwa) - 15

NATIONAL rally champion Davite Giancarlo registered a bright start to the opening round of the Africa rally championship (Rally de Bandama) as he finished eighth to secure the third spot in the continental rankings.

Giancarlo clocked two hours, thirty minutes and sixteen seconds in the tricky and grueling 11 stages stretching over 250km. Only 12 competitors finished the three-day event.

Ivory Coast’s Gary Chaynes and Romain Comas, driving a Mitsubishi Evo9, won the 40th Rallye Bandama after putting up a big fight in the longest 61km stage Sunday morning.

They overtook overnight leader Morifere Soumaoro and Philipe Garcia to win by only 33.5 seconds.

Giancarlo navigated by Slyvia Vindevogel in a Subaru Impreza N12 ‘Umuleti’ came eighth in the super special stage held on Friday before finishing eleventh in Saturday’s race clocking one hour, 38 minutes and 38 seconds.

Morifere Soumaoro took the Saturday race action by 27.5 seconds at the end of Leg 1B from Gary Chaynes, both from Ivory Coast.

ARC contenders Jaspreet Singh Chatthe and Gugu Panesar and Uganda’s Charles Muhangi dropped out from the rally. Chatthe went off the road and damaged his suspension and Muhangi’s car got a mechanical hitch.

Strange last minute submission

Having not been on the initial list of confirmed drivers for ARC 2014 by February 26, Morifere Soumaoro and Gary Chaynes made their late submission to FIA, a feat which didn’t go down well with Team Gianca, who were denied vital 25 points by the duo.

Giancarlo bagged 15 points to come third behind Chaynes and Soumaoro with 25 and 18 points respectively.

 "So after these two competitors (Chaynes and Soumaoro) took ARC jump seat, we had to focus on finishing the event in good spirit,”Vindevogel said after the race on Sunday. "The car was in better condition on Sunday and we climbed back up with a mission of getting at least 15 points in ARC. We are just disappointed seeing such a thing happen because we didn’t see it coming,” she added.

The next round on the ARC calendar is the Sasol Rally South Africa scheduled for April 11-12.