Davite leads Rwandan drivers to Rally de Ngozi

The streets of Ngozi, a northern-central town of Burundi will be the centre of sights and sounds today as the fifth round of the Rwanda national rally championship raves off. Fourteen crews are expected to spice up the Rally de Ngozi with defending champion Davite Giancarlo, who will be navigated by Sylvia Vindevogel leading the Rwandan contingent. Speaking to Saturday Sport recently, Rwanda Automobile Club chairman Christian Gakwaya said, “The purpose of staging this event with our neighbouring friends, is to revive the sport in Burundi. We want the sport to remain relevant to the Burundi rally fans.” “We are going to race in Ngozi as part of re-launching motorsport in Burundi,” Gakwaya revealed. Burundi first organised the Great Lakes Rally in 1996, however, due to political instability the Great Lakes Rally was moved to Uganda. Despite failing to stage a competitive rally, Burundian champions like Rudy Cantanhede and his navigator David Israel have continued to compete in regional rally events like the Mt Gorilla rally in Rwanda and the V-Pearl of Africa Rally in Uganda. Other Burundian drivers who will take part in the event include; leading driver Abba Mohammed in a Toyota Celica, Thierry Mutore in a Subaru GT, Jean Giesen in a Toyota Celica and Abdul Said in a Peugeot 205 GTI. Davite and Vindevogel will be joined by Elefter Mitraros/Paolo Paganin, Mayaka Felekeni/Idrissa Mulemba, Janvier Mutuga/Jules Uwimana, Gakwaya Jean Claude/ Armand Birindabago and Genese Semana/Jacques Hakizimana. The 2013 national rally calendar will end with the ‘Rally des Mille Collines’ on November 7-8. Davite is the reigning champion of the annual event.

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Davite leads Rwandan drivers to Rally de Ngozi