Karan Patel wins 2022 ARC Equator Rally

Kenya National Rally Championship (KNRC) points leader Karan Patel bagged his third victory on the trot after winning the African Rally Championship Equator Rally on Sunday.

The Nairobi-based businessman, piloting a Ford Fiesta R2, and navigated by Tauseef Khan maintained the lead to win Kenya’s round of the 2022 African Rally Championship for the first time in his rallying career despite suffering a broken drive shaft on Day One.

“It was a calculated drive from our side. The competition wasn’t that stiff but it was good nonetheless.” Commented #ARCEquatorRally2022 winner Karan Patel. pic.twitter.com/WqZylkzTy0

— Safari Rally Kenya (@wrcsafarirally) April 3, 2022

Zambian Leroy Gomes and his wife Urshilla maintained the lead on the overall standings of the 2022 African Rally Championship after finishing second in the Kenyan event driving Ford Fiesta.

‘’We are happy to have finished second in the event which also helps us maintain our lead in the ARC standings,’’ said Leroy.

Jeremy Wahome, the former F3 renowned driver, finally scored career best result by finishing fourth overall in one of the major rounds of Kenyan rallying.

Wahome, who was navigated by Victory Okundi in a Ford Fiesta finished over four minutes behind the winning car of Patel.

Maxine Wahome followed her Ladies Rally victory with another good show by finishing in sixth place driving a Subaru Impreza. She was the only female driver.

The continental showpiece was a curtain raiser for the WRC Safari Rally to be held in the lakeside town in June.

Last year,the WRC returned to Africa for the second time since 2002 with Kenya hosting the global spectacle.

Safari Rally Kenya will remain on the FIA World Rally Championship calendar until 2026 after a three-year extension to the current contract was signed in Monaco in January this year.

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