At least 28 drivers will compete in the forthcoming 2024 Rwanda Mountain Gorilla Rally scheduled for October 18-20.
The annual car race, which crosses over Kigali and Bugesera routes, is one of the components of the African Championship.
Kenyan star driver Karan Patel is expected to take part in the annual competition hoping to retain after winning the 2023 edition.
Should he win it, he could be confirmed winner of the 2024 African Rally Championship for the second time in a row.
This year’s edition will attract drivers from four African countries namely hosts Rwanda, Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda.
A total of 28 cars have been confirmed to compete. Of the cars, seven are of drivers competing for the 2024 African Rally Championship while 21 others are national competitors, including eight Rwandans and 13 Ugandans.
Decisive race for Patel
Patel currently leads the African Championship with 105 points and winning the Rwandan race could see him retain the continental championship as two of his top challengers including Ugandan Jas Mangat (28 points) and his countryman Hamza Anwar (24 points) won’t participate in Kigali.
Patel, who drives a Skoda Fabia R5, has won three races in Jinja, Uganda, Zambia and Burundi.
His closest African Championship rivals who are on the list of participants at Rwanda Mountain Gorilla Rally, are fourth-ranked Ugandan Michael Jr. Mukula with 19 points and his brother Kuku Ranjit Singh who boasts18 points as well as Dr. Mukasa Moustapha who has 17 points in sixth place.
Others who will compete in the African Championship in Rwanda include Prince Charles Nyerere, the grandson of late former Tanzania President Julius Kambarage Nyerere (RIP). He will play his Rwandan copilot Fernand Rutabingwa in a Mitsubishi Lancer Evo X car.
Among the Rwandan drivers who will participate include Jean Claude Gakwaya, who won this race with Jean Claude Mugabo in a Subaru Impreza in 2019. There were, however, no participants in the African Championship category at the time.
The winner of the race on the African Championship schedule gets 35 points, the second gets 28, the third 24, the fourth takes 19 and the fifth registers 18 while the sixth gets 17.