The annual national motorsport rally championship ‘Rally de l’Est’ is set to kick off this weekend, according to Rwanda Automobile Club (RAC), the organisers.

The competition will last two days – Saturday and Sunday.

According to RAC, the race will start with a super stage from CHIC complex parking lot in downtown Kigali, and will cover six competitive stages: Kimironko-Bumbogo-Ndera and then back to the service park at La Palisse Nyandungu on Sunday.

Jean Claude Gakwaya and navigator Jean Claude Mugabo are the winners of last year. The duo missed the Safari Rally in Kenya over the weekend due to mechanical issues with their Subura Impreza.

The other local crews expected to compete in the weekend race include; Jean Jean Gesere/Yannick Dewalque, the winners of Rally des Mille Collines 2017; and Christian Remezo/Jean Marie Gahuranga. Other competitors include Genese Semana, Fabrice Nyirindadi, and Eric Gakwaya.

Elsewhere in regional motorsport, Kenya’s Carl Tundo made history over the weekend, by clinching the 2018 round two of the Africa Rally Championship (ARC).

Tundo and Tim Jessop celebrated their fifth Safari Rally victory over the weekend in Naivasha, Kenya, after covering 206.96 kilometers in 1hr 55mins and 05 seconds to finish ahead of Baldev Chager and Uganda’s Jas Mangat who finished second and third, respectively.

Tundo’s win made him joint-record winner along Shekhar Mehta. He also recorded maximum 25 points for the ARC series to equal Ivory Coast’s Gary Chaynes who won the opening round of ARC series Rally Bandama in February.

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