Pandya, Miller to renew rivalry in the NRC Rally

Tanzania's driver Dharam Pandya competes in a past rally.PHOTO|FILE

What you need to know:

Organised by Dar es Salaam Motor Sports Club (DMSC), the two-day championship will now start on October 28 at Kigamboni, Temeke District.

Dar es Salaam. The sixth round of this year’s National Rally Championship (NRC) initially scheduled for September 23 to 24, has been postponed to next month due to financial constraints.

Organised by Dar es Salaam Motor Sports Club (DMSC), the two-day championship will now start on October 28 at Kigamboni, Temeke District.

The DMSC chairman, Salim Haji, said yesterday that they were still striving to find sponsors for the 120 kilometre rally, hence the decision to reschedule the event.

Haji said that ‘having considered all available options’, they opted to adjourn the rally.

The DNSC Club chairman urged drivers and their crews to continue with preparations as they strive to secure sponsorship.

“It is unfortunate that we had to come to this decision. We have a number of companies and individuals, but none of them has so far responded positively,” he said.

He they know that some motor rally fans will be disappointed for such a big event to be postponed due to lack of sponsorship.

“I am confident we will be able to stage it in October,” Haji said. But he fell short of revealing how much they need for the championship.

This will be the second time in more than ten years for Kigamboni to host the fifth round of the National Rally Championship. It last hosted the event in 2006.

Haji said 15 drivers have so far confirmed their participation in the championship.

The drivers include Gerald Miller of Arusha and Dar es Salaam’s Dharam Pandya of Puma Energy team, who are fighting for the national honor.

Miller leads the NRC title race with 83 points, 13 ahead of closest challenger Pandya.

This means Pandya will be fighting to narrow gap on Miller ahead the sixth and final round of the NRC, Mount Uluguru Rally, later this year.

Pandya garnered 10 points in the recently Automobile Association of Tanzania (AAT) Rally while Miller scored 15 points.

Although the Arusha-based driver (Miller) did not feature in the Tanga Rally a few weeks ago due to what he described as ‘unavoidable circumstances,’ he remains unruffled at the summit of the rally standings.

Samir Nahdi is third with 52 points and Randeep Singh is placed fourth with 43 points, while Gurpal Sandhu and Ahmed Huwel share the fifth position with 41 points each.

Other drivers their points in bracket are Ahmed Huwel (41), Harinder Deere (28), Naeem Daudi (20), Shane Abbas Fazal (20) and Hassan Ramzan (16).

Also on the list are Davis Mosha (14), Jayant Shah (12), Preetam Gandamal (8), Yusuf Zavery (8), Lazarus Horn (6), Hussein Suleiman (6) Issack Taylor (4), Harjeet Singh (4), Hamid Mbatta 2) and Frank Taylor (1).

Former national champion Jamil Khan is among drivers who not garnered a point in the championship so far.

Others are Jamil Shabhi, Binesh Haria, Cyprian Mwaimu, Lucas Mwanga, Kelvin Taylor, Nadeem Daud, Akida Juma, Bob Taylor, Aliasgar Fazal, Naeel Asher, Gurjit Dhani, Erfan Aladin, Rajpal Dhani, Ajminder Dhani and Salim Haji.