Giancarlo finish fourth

RWANDA’s rally ace Davite Giancarlo notched a remarkable comeback to finish fourth in the three-day grueling Toyota Zimbabwe Challenge race over the weekend.

Tuesday, March 20, 2012
LOOKING AHEAD: Davite Giancarlo said he was looking ahead to putting on a good show in Zimbabwe, and he did. The New Times/File.

RWANDA’s rally ace Davite Giancarlo notched a remarkable comeback to finish fourth in the three-day grueling Toyota Zimbabwe Challenge race over the weekend.Giancarlo, navigated by Sylvia Vindevogel, clocked 2:51:54 to wind up a close finish for the Subaru N10s. The Italian-born was pipped to podium slot by Zambia’s Mohammed Essa, who was co-driven by a Zimbabwean navigator Greg Stead to finish in third place in 2:51:02Though it is not yet confirmed, the Rwandan driver might the be leader on the Africa Rally Championship ladder as rivals and pre-competition favourites Jamie Whyte and Chase Attwell and Uganda’s Jas Mangat were among the list of casualties, who failed to complete the grueling rally.The rally was won by Jess Watson and his wife Sasha who became the first husband-and-wife to win the three-day grueling race since Zimbabwe’s Independence.The last husband-and-wife team to win the race was Don and Jackie McDonald way back in 1973. Out of the 15 cars that were flagged off on Day One on Friday afternoon, only seven finished the race and among them were three foreign drivers.Zimbabwe’s Greeb Craig also posted the second-place finish, while young Tyronne Carr of Zimbabwe, who was making his debut in this event, and his co-driver Clint Ashdown came fifth. Another husband-and-wife team of Ronald Parsell and Bronwyn Ebrahim settled for sixth place and on seventh position was South Africa’s Pieter Pilusa and his Zimbabwean navigator George Chitepo. This year’s race attracted a good field of 15 cars including four foreign competitors from South Africa, Rwanda, Uganda and Zambia.