Provisional results1. Manvir Baryan (KEN) 00h: 43:132. Giancarlo Davite (BEL) 00h: 44:183. Bukera Valery (BUR) 00h: 45:244. Gomes Leroy (ZAM) 00h: 46:595. Nizette Christophe 01h: 05:24

After taking it easy with no serious troubles, Kenyan Baryan Manvir topped the morning session on day one after four competitive sections of the Rwanda Mountain Gorilla Rally on Friday at Rugende in Kabuga.

Manvir, who leads the race for the African Rally Championship (ARC) title with 65 points, only needs to maintain his position in the top three on Saturday, to be crowned champion, with one race still remaining; the Zambia Rally, next month.

After Super Section 4, he leads by a time of 43 minutes and 13 seconds, ahead of Giancarlo Davite in the second position.

Manvir said after the morning session: "The car is fine; we just need to maintain the momentum. Tomorrow is a long day."

Last year’s champion Bukera Valery from Burundi finished third, a minute and six seconds behind Davite while Zambia’s Gomes Leroy is 4th heading into the afternoon Super Special stage at Amahoro National Stadium.

Zambia’s Gomes is trying to narrow the gap at the ARC leaderboard. However, out of the 19 cars that registered for the event, 16 cars were flagged off, but only 13 managed to finish the morning session.

Kenya’s driver Piero Canobbio was among the first drivers to end the rally prematurely with mechanical failure.

Burundi’s Rudy Cantanhede and David Israel; the three-time Mountain Gorilla victors also suffered a mechanical problem when their Evo X broke the steering arm after he hit a tree stem.

Also out is Zambia’s Gomes Klaveen and co-navigator Latife Riyaz when they rolled their Evo X but luckily they were not injured.

Din Imitiaz (Burundi), Samuel Watendwa (Uganda, Timothy Gakwaya (Rwanda) and Gakuba Tassos (Rwanda) remain pointless ahead of the afternoon session.

editorial@newtimes.co.rw