Rwanda’s rally driver Olivier Costa has dropped to fourth place on the FIA African Rally Championship (ARC) charts after finishing 19th in last week’s KCB Safari rally in Kenya.

Costa, navigated by Paolo Paganin in a Subaru N11 struggled to come to terms with the dusty Kenyan roads and could only manage a 19th spot finish after clocking 3 hours, nine minutes and 40 seconds in the 700km event that was spread over three-days.

However, the Belgium-born Costa still managed to snitch a point on the ARC charts which left him in joint fourth place with Kenya’s Don Smith on seven points.

Last year’s ARC runner up James Whyte from Zimbabwe is atop the drivers’ charts with 20 points. Uganda’s Emma Katto is second with 12 while two-time African champion Muna Singh is third with eight points. 

On top of being the second tier on the ARC, the KCB Safari rally which attracted a huge entry of 47 drivers from Africa and Europe also doubled as the first leg of the inaugural KCB East African Challenge.

Rwanda’s national champion Davite Giancarlo once again, narrowed down his chances for silverware in the inaugural KCB East African Challenge after failing to finish the KCB Safari rally.

The Italian-born driver’s Subaru suffered mechanical problems early on day two forci8ng him out of the race. He also suffered similar problems in the ARC season opener - the Kobil Rally of Tanzania back in February.

ARC action resumes early next month with the KCB Pearl of Africa Uganda rally from May 1-3, where again, Costa and Giancarlo are expected to fly the Rwandan flag.

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