Fitidis bows out of Kenya Safari rally

Rwanda Rally driver Christakis Fitidis bowed out of the Kenya Safari Rally after his Subaru Impreza N12 suffered mechanical problems on Day 2 on Saturday. Fitidis was navigated by Eric Nzamwita. “It is sad that we are out of the 2014 KCB Safari rally after overshooting one corner, thinking that the hand brake would throw the car in the right angle, unfortunately, it was not the case,” Navigator Nzamwita said. Kenya National Rally Championship champion Baldev Chager maintained his dogged campaign in search of a second straight KCB Safari Rally as he won the second day action. Chager, who set the fastest times in all the three stages run on day 1, drove cautiously in the first two stages and had his day 2 campaign gifted by a puncture on Tundo’s car in the long 53km stage at Loldaiga. Trailing Chager by a 2.38 minutes margin was Tundo whose spirited campaign was thwarted by an excruciating puncture on the long Loldaiga stage. Third overall was MRT driver Manvir Baryan, who trailed the leader by a 5.01minutes margin. Day two of the Safari was laden with drama, excitement and anticipation. Veteran driver Ian Duncan was Day two’s first casualty on the 12km Turaco stage where his car stalled due to electrical problems. Other notable casualties of the day were; Rajbir Rai (gearbox), Issa Amwari (electrical), Farhaaz Khan, Onkar Rai with diff failure and defending two wheel drive champion Dennis Mwenda whose Toyota Sprinter GT suffered serious overheating problems. A total of 16 cars failed to master the demanding 800km course on day two. Out of the 53 cars which started Leg1B, only 37 survived the demanding course ahead of Sunday’s final day which was yet to climax by press time.

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Fitidis bows out of Kenya Safari rally