Birdi puts up sterling display to win Uluguru Rally crown

Dar es Salaam’s drivers Randeep Birdi and his navigator Zubair Peredina power their Mitsubishi Evo 7 to victory during the penultimate stage of Mount Uluguru Rally in Morogoro yesterday.

PHOTO | COURTESY

What you need to know:

  • His victory also came as a relief for his navigator, Zubair Peredina, who was declared as the navigator of the year after beating his closest rival, Maisam Fazal, by four points.
  • The two-day Mt uluguru event was the final round of the National Rally Championship (NRC)

Morogoro. Dar es Salaam’s Randeep Birdi put up a brave show to win the 2016 Mount Uluguru Rally title after a dramatic finish in the yesterday’s last stage at Dakawa, Morogoro.

His victory also came as a relief for his navigator, Zubair Peredina, who was declared as the navigator of the year after beating his closest rival, Maisam Fazal, by four points.

The two-day Mt uluguru event was the final round of the National Rally Championship (NRC).

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Dar es Salaam motorsport fraternity has a reason to celebrate after winning two titles this year. Jamil Khan is officially the new NRC champion while Peredina walked away with the navigator’s gong.

Three drivers, two from Dar es Salaam and one from Arusha have each won NRC rounds twice while the fourth is Kilimanjaro’s Gurjit Dhani who won one round.

Birdi joins Arusha’s Gerald Miller and Khan as drivers who have won two out the seven rounds of this year’s calendar.

Birdi and his navigator Peredina won after clocking the event’s fastest time of one hour,43 minutes and 09 seconds, beating their closest challengers Miller and Peter Fox by only 12 seconds. The runners up, Miller and Fox clocked 1:43: 21 to record the event’s second fastest time.

The third-placed Khan spent 1:54:34 to beat Tufail Amin who settled for the fourth spot by over two minutes.

Only eight drivers out of 11 who started the race managed to finish the challenging event.

Others who made it were Stephen Bicco who finished fifth in 2:09:35 ahead of Munir Farouk Mpishi (2:18:54).

Kelvin Taylor in Toyota Celica took the seventh place as Issack Taylor who was navigated by Monica Lyimo warpped up the list of those who managed to finish the race.

Ahmed Huwel, who recorded the fastest time in the opening stage, was forced to withdraw after his Subaru Impreza N11 experienced engine problems. Likewise, Moshi-based Harry Singh trio of Gurjit Dhani, Ajmiminder Singh and Rajpar Dhani were time-barred after competing in the Kenyan round of Guru Nanak Rally a week earlier.

Khan was already declared the winner even before competing in Morogoro, but his mission was to ensure that his navigator Maisam Fazal also wins the title. Fazal, however, could not accomplish hius dream.

Fazal, who narrowly led over Randeep Birdi’s navigator Peredina, could only win the championship if Khan finished ahead of Birdi.

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