Giancarlo retains National Rally Championship

NATIONAL Rally champion, Davite Giancarlo, continued his dominance of the national rally championship after winning the 7th round of the local rally calendar Rally de Mille Collines to take this year’s championship over the weekend. Navigated by Sylvia Vindevogel, the Africa Rally Championship driver scooped his fifth title with 138 points on the back of winning the Sprint rally, Mt. Gorilla rally and Rally de Huye. In the weekend’s final round of the national rally championship, Giancarlo clocked one hour, twenty minutes and twenty nine seconds to come ahead of the 12 drivers who took part in the grueling 73km. Claude Kwizera, part of Giancarlo’s Ivubi racing team, navigated by Philippe Van Der Haert in a Subaru Impreza N11 finished second, three and 50 seconds late. Johnny Murengezi from Unity rally, alongside navigator Christophe Duquesne in a Subaru Impreza GC8 took the podium for a bronze medal after coming seven minutes and 23 seconds behind the winner. Burundi’s lone competitor in the final round, Mohamed Abbas Rosheneli finished in fourth position, coming 11 minutes and 44 seconds late. In the overall classification of the year, Giancarlo topped the standings to win the national title with 138 points. Giancarlo, who finished the 2013 Africa Rally Championship in third position, has won five national rally championships. He previously won the national rally championship in 2008, 2009, 2011 and 2012. In a statement from his navigator Vindevogel said, “This was an end of a difficult year 2013 for Gianca rally team.” “We learnt a lot, never forget to be humble; nothing is achieved until the full stop,” said Vindevogel as she extended special thanks to Gianca team, Rwanda Automobile club, sponsors and motorsport fraternity. Giancarlo and Vindevogel paid tribute to fallen former South African President Nelson Mandela by painting their Subaru Impreza ‘Umuletti’ with the face of Africa’s icon. The Mt. Gorilla Rally winner, Giancarlo lost the ARC title to all-Zambian crew of Jassy Singh and Dave Sihoka and Ugandan Jas Mangat who finished second. Jassy is son of the legendary two times African champion Muna Singh while Sihoka has three ARC co-drivers titles under his belt, two of which he clinched with the former. In the first seven rounds, the Italy-born driver finished just two sections; he abandoned all others due to mechanical problems. He bowed out of the Rally Bandama in January in Cote d’Ivoire, Sasol rally in South Africa in April, finished second in Zambia International rally in May, before crashing out of Tanzania rally in June, Kenya Safari Rally in July and Uganda Pearl rally in August, and then bouncing back to win the Mt. Gorilla in September on home soil.

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Giancarlo retains National Rally Championship