Costa crashes out of Safari rally

Rwandan driver Olivier Costa crashed out of this year’s KCB Safari rally on day-two on Saturday in Elementaita and Delamere Estates, Kenya.

Sunday, June 29, 2008

Rwandan driver Olivier Costa crashed out of this year’s KCB Safari rally on day-two on Saturday in Elementaita and Delamere Estates, Kenya.

Costa navigated by Jean-Francois Ruhashanyiko had a frustrating experience on his debut in the Africa Rally Championship as their Subaru Impreza developed engine problems.

And it was also end of the road for Kenya’s speed master Asad Anwar, who also failed to finish after his Subaru Impreza N11 developed gearbox problem.

Anwar, navigated by George Mwangi, was chasing the Africa Rally Championship (ARC) points. He also failed to win the Kobil Rally of Tanzania in Dar-es-Salaam in February.

The ARC defending champion, Muna Singh of Zambia, was also forced to pull out after his Subaru Impreza N11 developed a gearbox problem at the Soysambu/Elementaita stage.

Singh navigated by David Sikoha lead the ARC standings with 16 points after good performances in Dar-es-Salaam and Kampala’s KCB Pearl of Africa Rally.

It was also a frustrating experience for young driver Jon Williams as his Volkswagen Polo developed suspension problems at Soysambu/Elementaita. Uganda’s Riyaz Kurji and Jas Mangat both crashed out.

Kurji went out after the rear arm of his Subaru Impreza N10 broke while Mangat was frustrated by gearbox problems.

This year’s Safari rally started on Friday and climaxed yesterday unfortunately, Rwanda’s flag bearer, Costa could not finish what was the biggest rally competition of his career.

Ends