Dar drivers reign supreme
The African Rally Championship fourth round winner, Randeep Singh Birdi, powers his Mitubshi Evo towards the Lugobafinish line yesterday. PHOTO|COURTESY OF ORGANIZERS
What you need to know:
- The veteran driver comfortably held on to secure victory in the weekend’s race in Bagamayo, upstaging region’s hyped speedsters. Navigated by Zubayr Piredine, Birdi maintained his day one lead to post the fastest time of the two-day event.
Dar es Salaam. Tanzania’s renowned driver Randeep Singh Birdi punched the air in celebration at the end of the Rally of Tanzania yesterday.
The veteran driver comfortably held on to secure victory in the weekend’s race in Bagamayo, upstaging region’s hyped speedsters. Navigated by Zubayr Piredine, Birdi maintained his day one lead to post the fastest time of the two-day event.
He recorded 1:32:33 hours on day of the fourth round of the African Rally Championship (ARC) dubbed Orxy Rally of Tanzania.
The daredevil fared through a 248.71km competitive distance in 2:15:25 hours to register his third Rally of Tanzania win.
“I am overjoyed to have won this race; it was not an easy rally as one had to be so cautious in every stage.
“Despite a constant threat from other challengers, we managed to stay focussed and eventually we took the title. We are very happy that we made it,” said Birdi.
Jamil Khan, another Tanzanian driver, came in second with 2 minutes, 11 seconds behind rally winner Birdi.
The 2015 Rally of Tanzania winner Gerald Miller sealed the podium in the third place while Dharam Pandya settled for the fourth spot.
Kenya’s Don Smith topped the African Rally Championship category after his Zambian rival Muna Singh Jr made an early retirement on day one.
Smith and Bob Kaugi finished ninth overall. The duo is now 29 points ahead of Muna who remains on 50 points. Christakis Fitidis was the best placed foreigner. The Ugandan finished in fifth place overall while Yasin Nasser settled for the eleventh place.
Despite Muna’s retirement, Zambia was still represented in Anastasios Calavrias who finished seventh overall. There were 12 Subaru entries against 10 Mitsubishi Evos when the rally was flagged at Southern Sun Hotel on Friday.
One of the two cars outside the Subaru-Evos dominion was Ford Escort driven by Joey Ghose and BMW whose driver was Isack Taylor. The former managed to complete five stages, but the later could not.
Last year, it was Mitsubishi car driven by Miller that defeated its rivals to claim number one position.
