Kenyan driver Jaspreet Chatte navigated by Craig Thorley emerged winner of the Rwanda Mt Gorilla Rally championship that ended yesterday in Gahengeri, Rwamagana District.
Results1. Jaspreet Chatte/Craig Thorley/Mitsubishi Evo X 1:52:192. Jassy Singh/Dave Sihoka/Subaru Impreza 1:52:423. Valery Bukera/Nital Khetia/Subaru Impreza 2:03:154. Jon Consta/Aaron Nsamba/Mitsubishi Evo X 2:09:335. Desh Kananura/Moses Matovu/Subaru Impreza 2:11:01
Kenyan driver Jaspreet Chatte navigated by Craig Thorley emerged winner of the Rwanda Mt Gorilla Rally championship that ended yesterday in Gahengeri, Rwamagana District.
The victory saw Chatte maintain his lead on top of the African Rally Championship (ARC) with 75 points having also won the Sasol rally in South Africa and Zambia international rally in April and May respectively. Both drivers did not finish in Tanzania in June.
"It was a very interesting rally, really good. It was tough. We fought with Jassy until the last stage. Every leg, I would go in get some time then he would go in and get some time so it was quite a good fight till the end because we won on the last stage,” explained the contented Chatte.
He further added that, "Being in Rwanda for the first time and winning it is definitely great. I couldn’t ask for anything more. It was a very huge bonus on my ARC title challenge so i will wait and see in Uganda and Madagascar.”
Chatte faced stiff competition from Zambian Jassy Singh who is also in contention for the African title. The 22-year old Singh enjoyed a three-second lead at the end of stage 7 but Chatte came back strong to lead by 17 seconds at the end of stage 8.
However, he suffered a puncture and Singh assumed the lead with an advantage of 48 seconds. Chatte worked hard to get within 17 seconds of Singh and in the last stage, the Kenyan snatched victory ahead of Singh.
"Our chances are very slim now but rally is rally. We shall push on in Uganda and Madagascar and see what happens,” said Singh.
Burundian Valery Bukera settled for third after recovering from a puncture that cost him five minutes but he recovered to lead Uganda’s Desh Kananura who had earlier gained 1:30 on him.
Rwandan Davite Giancarlo/Sylvia Vindevogel, who was favourite to win the two-day competition knocked a stray cow ending his participation in the event that saw only 11 drivers complete with nine failing due to mechanical issues including Rwandans Jean Claude Gakwaya/Claude Mugabo, Janvier Mutuga/Jules Uwimana, Ugandans Fred Busuulwa/Hakim Mawanda, Hassan Alwi/Leroy Oling and Burundian pair Christian Remezo/Felix Niyondagara.
The next ARC event is the Pearl of Africa rally in Uganda from August 28-30 before the last event on the calendar, the Madagascar international rally set for November 8-10.