RAC harbours Mt. Gorilla hopes

The Rwanda Automobile Club (RAC) will approach the organisers of the African Rally Championship, Confederation of African Countries in Motorsport (CACMS) to reinstate the Rwanda Mountain Gorilla Rally on the continental championship calendar. The rally was temporarily scrapped off the calendar in 2007 after the automobile club failed to lure sponsors. However things seem to be turning for the better after verbal assurances from the Kenya Commercial Bank that it will be bankrolling the event. RAC President Dismas Kayibanda told Times Sport that, “I am thinking of a possibility of talking to ARC organisers to re-instate the Rwanda Mountain Gorilla Rally to the African Rally Championship because sponsors want to be involved with the sport.” “We called for the rally to be put on hold because we were cash-stripped after years of failed success on the continental scene.” “KCB sponsorship may force us to reconsider the rally being reestablished as an ARC rally with the start of this year’s edition which gets underway on September 17-19,” Kayibanda said. Kayibanda further added that more sponsors (unidentified) are willing to come on board to support the development of the sport in the country. Mt. Gorilla rally, Rwanda’s most coveted rally event is only listed as a reserve event on the 2009 ARC calendar and according to the ARC website; RAC was given until the end of January to confirm their involvement. The last Mountain Gorilla edition (2006) received massive sponsorship from ORTPN, Hotel Novotel, Sonarwa, Rwandair, Rwanda National Police and Dalbit Petroleum amongst others. That year, the race was won by Zimbabwe’s Conrad Rautenbach. KCB will also sponsor East Africa Rally Challenge which Rwanda joined over the weekend at its launch. Last year, the inaugural series included the KCB Safari Rally, the KCB Pearl of Africa Uganda Rally and the Rally of Tanzania. This year’s edition will feature the KCB Safari Rally, the KCB Pearl of Africa Uganda Rally and the KCB Mountain Gorilla Rally of Rwanda. Ends

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RAC harbours Mt. Gorilla hopes