Paolo Paganin will be Olivier Costa’s co-driver at next month’s KCB Safari Rally, the second round on the African Rally Championship (ARC).

Paganin temporarily takes over the co-driving roles from Jean Ruhashyankiko who is said to have recently flown back to Europe to be with his wife.

"Paganin will be my co-driver in Kenya because Jean is in Europe with his expectant  wife,” Costa revealed.

When not co-driving, Paganin occasionally gets behind the wheel. In 2006, he competed in four of eight rounds on the national rally championship.

Costa together with Paganin will drive their new state-of-the art Subaru Impreza N11 series.

Costa found instant fame back in February when he finished third in the Kobil rally of Tanzania; the opening round on the ARC charts.

The Belgian, who competes in the ARC with a Rwandan license finished third behind eventual winner James Whyte (Zimbabwe) and Uganda’s Emma Katto.

Driving on the slippery roads of Dar es Salaam, the Rwandan driver kept his cool to snatch the final podium slot ahead of more prominent drivers like Lola Verlaque and Randeep Birdi.

National rally champion Davite Giancarlo is also targeting a quick comeback after crushing out in Tanzania.

The KCB Safari rally is slated for April 3-5 in Kenya.

This year’s ARC charts has six rounds after fresh reports that Rwanda’s Mountain Gorilla rally has finally been re-incorporated into the championship.

The rally fell out of favour in 2007 after failing to garner enough sponsorship but Rwanda Automobile Club (RAC)’s president Dismas Kayibanda recently confirmed that Kenya Commercial Bank (KCB) has literally offered to support the event.

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