Rwanda’s rally ace Rudy Cantanhede has withdrawn from next weekend’s KCB Pearl Rally set for April 25-27 in Uganda.

The Pearl of Africa Uganda Rally is the second leg of the African rally championship.

According to the local automobile club (RAC), poor organization in the Uganda rally championship has forced the national champion to pull out of the rally to focus on the Rwanda Mount Gorilla rally set for May 30-June 1.

RAC president Dismus Kayibanda told Times Sport yesterday that, "Cantanhede has offered to start serious preparations of the Gorilla rally after withdrawing from the Pearl rally," Cantanhede who has been in Europe shopping for a rally car was unavailable for comment.

Cantanhede finished seventh in the first round of the African rally championship held in Tanzania bagging two points in the process. Meanwhile, Uganda’s Emma Katto is the highest seeded local driver, lying behind regular Africa Rally Championship seasonal campaigners Muna Singh of Zambia, Japanese Hideaki Miyoshi and Riyaz Kurji.

Muna and Miyoshi top the seedings by virtue of being FIA priority B drivers, while Katto and Kurji made the top four basing on their previous performances in the championship.

Jon Williams of South Africa is seeded fifth in his VW Polo.

The rally has so far attracted 28 entrants from Uganda, Tanzania, Kenya, Zambia, Zimbabwe, South Africa and Japan.

The three-day rally will start with a super special stage on Friday before embarking on a 672 km that will transverse the districts of central Uganda. Zimbabwe’s Conrad Rautenbach in a Subaru N12 won last year’s event on his way to the Africa title while Jas Mangat in a Golf GTI was the highest placed Ugandan in fourth place.

ARC standings after rd one:

Muna Singh (ZAM) - 10 pts

Jas Mangat (UGA) - 8

Lola Verlaque (S.A) - 6

Rudy Cantanhede (RWA) -2

2007 - C. Rautenbach (ZW)

2006 - Riyaz Kurji (UG)

2005 - Riyaz Kurji (UG)

Ends