Tufail needs 25 points to win national title

Dar es Salaam. Tufail Rally team driver Tufail Tufail needs only 25 points to win this year’s National Rally Championships (NRC).

Tufail is amon

g 13 drivers who will today compete in the Guru Nanak Rally Championship in Arusha Region.

The driver has so far collected 85 points while Dharam Pandya, who is placed second is with 47.5 points and the third placed overall is Randeep Birdi, who has collected 43 points. Arusha Region’s driver, Gurpal Sandhu, is placed fourth with 40 points.

If Tufail scores the points, it means no driver in the NRC standings will manage to surpass the points even if the former will not compete in the Morogoro Region Rally to be staged next month.

However, there is a report that the event is hanging in the balance.

Other drivers to compete in the event, apart from the four, are Ajminder Dhani, Rajpal Dhani, Gurpal Sandhu, Mandeep Dhani, Emmanuel Lyimo, Kelvin Taylor, Mussa Mswaki, Issack Taylor, Jamil Shahbhai, Abdul Hakeem and Gurtaj Bhoga.

Speaking with The Citizen yesterday, Tufail said he is facing challenges from other drivers, who also target to win the national title. Tufail said he has taken all precautions ahead of the event, which is scheduled to start from 8am.

“To me, it is a do or die rally as the victory will make me clinch the title. I have to play well my cards as most of the drivers are good and target to score high in the event,” said Tufail who last year finished second after Ahmed Huwel, who won the title.

However, Huwel competed in the only one event of the Mkwawa Rally in which he won and opted out due to family problems. He said his success in the game this year was due to determination, basically after finishing second last year.

“I was not happy to be in the second position, my dream was to win the trophy,” he said.