Many local drivers are said to be gearing up for this year’s Rwanda Mountain Gorilla Rally.

According to Rwanda Automobile Club (RAC), the race is scheduled for May 30-1 June.

The RAC president Dismus Kayibanda yesterday said that many local drivers will be present in the upcoming rounds of the African Rally championships after missing out on the first round; Tanzania rally which climaxed last Sunday in Dar es Salaam.

"Financial constraints forced local drivers to rule out championship but this time, we expect sponsors to help other local drivers take part in these African championships,” Kayibanda said.

In a related development, Rwanda’s Rudy Cantanhede finished ninth in the Tanzanian Rally after clocking 2 hours, 51 minutes and 33 seconds.

Zambian Muna Singh and David Sihoka led from start to finish in their Subaru Impreza. Second overall and definitely the drive of the Rally was Ugandan based Jas Mangat and Kenyan co-driver Kashif Sheikh in the ex-Lola Subaru Impreza.

Mangat’s Ugandan counterpart Emmanuel Katto who was cruising in third place dropped out after stage 6 on the last day.

South Africa’s Lola and Megan Verlaque took advantage of Katto’s blow to finish 3rd. Japanese Hideaki Miyoshi and Hakaru Ichino struggled in 8th spot.

Only 10 cars out of a starting 15 finished the race.
The second round of ARC is expected to be staged in Kenya from March 21-23.
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