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Kenya: Home Boy Karan Takes Overnight Lead at ARC Equator Rally

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4 years ago

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Nairobi — Kenya National Rally Championship leader Karan Patel dominated Saturday’s Leg 1 of the ARC Equator Rally Kenya despite late driveshaft gremlins.

Karan closed the day’s proceedings with a 37.3seconds advantage over FIA Rally Star driver Jeremy Wahome who clocked 01:47:33.1 to settle for second spot.

Driving a Ford Fiesta Rally 2 and navigated by Tauseef Khan, Karan was virtually untouchable in the opening loop which revolved around the expansive wildlife conservancy in Soysambu .

He returned to first service with a 2.01.3-minute cushion over Zambia’s Leroy Gomes serving up great moments ahead for the second run.

Karan won four out of six stages while Gomes took the last two at Elementeita 2 and Sleeping Warrior 2 where the former suffered misfortune.

“We lost our front right drive-shaft, so we have been on rear wheel drive for stages 5 and 6. It been a whole time of praying to God to get to service and here we are. We hope to fix the problem and get the car ready for tomorrow’s last two stage,” said Karan

After the early morning Parc Ferme -Out, crews endured a three-stage loop which was repeated in the afternoon session for the day’s 134.30km of competitive mileage.

In the opening stage at Soysambu, Karan beat Gomes by a 36.3 seconds margin as Ford Escort MK1 Classic driver Raaji Bharij managed third fastest. Bharij ran fourth fastest on the closing stage at Sleeping Warrior to settle for fourth place on Leg 1 as Jasmeet Chana returned third.

Meanwhile, the opening loop of Leg 1 proved quite unforgiving to several teams who were unable to resume their second run. Only seven cars out of 19 starters managed to complete the demanding Leg 1 proceedings.

They will restart with penalties tomorrow under the “Super Rally” rule which allows competitors to rejoin a rally after fixing the damage on their machines well in time.

Junior WRC star McRae Kimathi is among Leg 1 casualties who will be restarting the rally tomorrow.

Kimathi Junior damaged his sump-guard a few kilometers into Elementeita stage and spent the better part of the afternoon fixing the damage well in time for tomorrow’s start.

The all-Mombasa crew of Hamza Anwar and Adnan Din nursed their ex-Carl Tundo Evolution X to KWS service after their centre-diff gave up 6kms into the opening stage.

Paras Pandya and Falgun Bhojak will also restart tomorrow after fixing their car.

Paras’ navigator Falgun said: “In stage one we went through some rocks and they were hidden, they were inside the sand. So we spoilt the diff, broke the prop shaft and lost important bolts. We’ve gotten the spares and we will fix them and restart to tomorrow under penalty.”

Karan’s brother Kush Patel retired after damaging the car’s driveshaft and will not be restarting tomorrow.

Leroy Gomes on his part said: “Sleeping Warrior stage was the killer stage today. In recce there was no mud, now there is lots of mud. We still have some 50 plus kms to go tomorrow, so we want get to the end and carry some ARC points. Karan is just too fast and in another level.”

LEG 1 RESULTS -SATURDAY

1. Karan Patel Tauseef Khan (Ford Fiesta – Rally 2) 01:46:55.7

2 Jeremy Wahome/Victor Okundi (Ford Fiesta – Rally 3) 01:47:33.1

3 Jasmeet Chana/ Ravi Chana (Mitsubishi EvolutionX) 01:48:26.1

4 Raaji Bharij/ Jasneil Ghataure (Ford Escort MK1) 01:50:03.8

5 Leroy Gomes/ Urshlla Gomes (Ford Fiesta – Rally2) 01:50:29.3