2017 ARC standings (3 rounds)1. Jaspreet Chatthe (Kenya) 30 pts2. Leroy Gomes (Zambia) 26pts3. Carl Tundo (Kenya) 25pts4. Guy Botterill (South Africa) 25pts5. Kleevan Gomes (Zambia) 16pts6. Manvir Baryan (Kenya) 15pts

Former national rally champion Davite Giancarlo is set to make a comeback this Thursday in the Pearl of Africa rally after serving a one year suspension.

The 2013 national rally champion will compete at the fourth edition of the African Rally Championship (ARC); the Pearl of Africa Rally scheduled for 29th June and will run until July 1 in Uganda.

The three-day event will go through Luwero and Kayunga districts and Giancarlo will drive a Mitsubishi Evo X NR4.

The Gianca rally crew was suspended last year in July by Rwanda Automobile Club (RAC) on allegations of indiscipline.

However, this time, the crew will not be flying the Rwandan flag together with Jean Claude Gakwaya/Jean Claude Mugabo (Subaru) and Fabrice Yoto/Regis Remede (Toyota-Cellica). The crew will race under a Belgian license, according to Giancalo’s navigator Sylvia Vindevogel.

"We have switched license, it hurts so much to race somewhere but we have to because we don’t think RAC is fair to drivers. We have to race where the sport is clean and fair,” Vindevogel said.

In 2014 Pearl of Africa Rally, the Giancarlo crew finished 8th after being penalized with 3 minutes and 40 seconds by the organizers.

Meanwhile, the event has attracted some big names that include: Kenyan driver and African Rally Champion (ARC) leader Jaspreet Chatthe.

On thirty points, Chatthe, in Evo X currently leads the ARC by four points and is back for the competition in which he clinched the continental title in 2015.

Unlike the previous editions, the competition will be open with a competitive section (CS) Nakufuma (18km) in the morning of June 30, before cars go to the Arena of Busiika for two runs (4.36km) of Super Special Stage and on Saturday drivers will tackle 10 CS covering over 212.64km.

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