DAVITE Giancarlo is backing himself to up-stage reigning Africa rally champion Jamie Whyte in the KCB Pearl of Africa Uganda rally slated for April 30- May 2.

In the opening two rounds of the African Rally Championship (ARC); Kobil Rally of Tanzania and last week’s KCB Safari rally, Giancarlo has played second fiddle to the Zimbabwean which explains why there is a 21-point gap between the two drivers.

After back to back wins, Whyte has amassed 76 points while Giancarlo, who finished second in Tanzania before struggling in Kenya (12th), is second on 55 points.

On top of counting as a second tier of the KCB East African rally Challenge, the KCB Pearl of Africa rally also counts as the third event on this year’s ARC and Giancarlo knows that winning in Uganda will help him close in on Whyte.

"Finishing second would be OK but I want to win. My target is to win and close the gap,” the two-time national champion said.

"In the Safari rally, we had a bad start on day two (Saturday) because of the poor roads. The car also lost some power in the last 5-10 km but we tried to compensate that with good pace on Sunday. On a whole, this was our best performance in this particular rally,”

Giancarlo, who was navigated by Sylvia Vindevogel in a Subaru, conceded.

Going by the first two races, Giancarlo, who has had a history of not finishing races in the past, looks to have worked on his composure.

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