No Rwandan rally driver has registered for this year’s 2016 Africa Rally Championship which is under way. Though registration is still on-going, there is less hope that any Rwandan will register, with many of them concentrating on just the local championship.
No Rwandan rally driver has registered for this year’s 2016 Africa Rally Championship which is under way.
Though registration is still on-going, there is less hope that any Rwandan will register, with many of them concentrating on just the local championship.
In his famous yellow "Omelette” a Mitsubishi Evo 10, two times Mountain Gorilla Rally Champion Giancarlo Davite is the only local driver who has ever participated in the event. He registered for the 2014 ARC, but he did not participate in all the seven events.
In an interview, with this paper Davite’s navigator Sylvia Vindevogel said they will not race in the 2016 FIA/ARC."We shall not compete in the ARC, no, not this year.”
When asked why, the female navigator replied "I don’t believe FIA/ARC is promoting African Rally, if you consider how they function.”
Eric Nzamwita one of the officials from Rwanda Automobile Club (RAC) says "The ARC is very costly for competitors, and at the end FIA/ARC does not help them. Lack of sponsorship is the other main problem.”
As usual, this year there will be seven events after Kenya’s decision to withdraw from hosting the KCB safari rally over misunderstandings with FIA/ARC.
Rallye Bandama flagged off this year’s continental calendar in Ivory Coast over the weekend with Ivorian Gary Chaynes winning in Yamoussoukro. He now leads the ARC rankings.
Sasol Rally in South Africa will be the next event from (April 22-23), followed by Zambia International Rally (May 27-29), Rally of Tanzania (July 8-12), Rwanda Mountain Gorilla Rally (August 12-14), Pearl of Africa Uganda Rally (September 16-18) and lastly the Madagascar International Rally will conclude the 2016 ARC between November 11-13.
Last year, Kenya’s Jaspreet Singh Chatthe and British co-driver Craig Thorley in their Mitsubishi Lancer Evo X were declared the 2015 FIA/African Rally Champions.
The 39-year old Kenyan finished over roll with 100% points, while Zambia’s Jassy Singh finished 2nd with 54 points, Uganda’s Abdul Ssempebwa came 3rd while Muna Singh Junior also from Zambia finished 4th Ivorian Driver Gary Chaynes finished fifth.
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