Baldev Chager maintains East Africa Safari Rally lead with a day to go

Multiple  Kenya National Rally Championship winner Baldev Chager maintained the lead as the 10^th edition of the East Africa Safari Rally entered penultimate round.

Driving a Porsche 911 Chager carried into the second last day a  time difference of 07:38.9 to top the chart. Chager clocked a total cumulative time of 12:26:50.1 on day 7 as the rally enters the crucial stage. The day started off at Amboseli Park and finished at Ndi in Taita Taveta County covering a distance of 378km.

The multiple winner’s monopoly at the top since day two has positioned him as a strong favorite to win this year’s edition despite him not having actually won a single stage, and although there is still a long distance to be covered.

The race is however, now turning into a battle for Kenyan drivers as rally legend Ian Duncan in his Rover Vitesse maintained his second position with total cumulative time of 12:34:29.0.

The Swedish national Patrik Sandell in his Porsche 911 however, gained more ground on Wednesday by wrestling the third position from the Kenyan Piers Daykin who dropped to fifth position with total cumulative time of 12:43:32.2.

The fourth position was taken by another Kenyan Raaji Bharij in his Ford Escort who overtook Daykin in his Datsun 280Z with total cumulative time of 12:46:04.7.

Day 7 saw the drivers traverse both counties of Kajiado and Taita Taveta.  Stage 17 which passed through Tsavo road to Man eaters was cancelled due to the ongoing road construction in the park and used only as a transit section.