Mohammed Essa wins Super Special Stage


By Ignatius Mazeko
 
ZAMBIAN champion Mohammed Essa and his Ugandan co-driver Moses Matovu this afternoon set the pace on the opening day of the 476.54km Zambia International Rally, the penultimate round of this season’s FIA African Rally Championship (ARC) that has drawn 11 entries.
 
 Seed one Essa, at the wheels of a Subaru Impreza N11, won the twice run 1.54km Super Special Stage at the Lusaka Motor Club (LMC) in the Showgrounds in Lusaka by one second with a time of 00:03:11 after clocking 00:01:38 on the first run and five seconds quicker on the second run.
 
Rwanda champion Giancarlo Davite and Sylvia Vindevogel, seeded fourth and also driving a Subaru N11, finished second after tying with Essa at 00:01:33 on the second run while African champions Jamie Whyte and Philip Archenoul, aboard a Subaru N10, were two seconds off the pace.
 
Seed three Whyte was third tied with Essa to winning time of 00:01:38 on the first run.
 
Former African champions, Muna Singh and Dave Sihoka seeded second, had a miserable outing - their Subaru N10 cut twice on the first run and a further more times on the second hence finishing five seconds off the pace in fourth position.
 
 “I don’t what’s wrong, we have to check,” said Muna, who is hoping to collect his fourth Zambia International Rally crown.
 
Muna’s son, Jassy Singh at the wheels of a VW Golf 3 and seeded 11, finished ninth with a time of 00:03:52 after putting up a neat performance on his second run to record a remarkable 18 seconds improvement from his initial run.
 
It was a repeat victory for Essa who was triumphant over two runs on the same circuit on the first day of last year’s Zambia International Rally when he set the pace from the get-go before being piped by Muna towards the end of the competition.
 
Essa said his strategy was to attack from the first stage because his target is to win this rally.
 
“Today was okay. In the first round we had few problems with the suspension and centre diff but we managed to work on the car for the second round,” he said.
 
Essa said he lost last year’s rally not because he could not contain the pressure mounted by Muna but because of mechanical problems he encountered towards the halt of the competition.  
 
“It is not true that I lost because I couldn’t handle the pressure. With me, the more pressure there is the better I am,” he said.
 
Dani Beaini and Adrian Sutherland, driving a Toyota Landcruiser short wheelbase, failed to start the second run because of a fuel pump problem as a result they were penalised five minutes plus the 00:01:33 fastest stage time.
 
Cars returned to the start point at InterContinental Hotel for overnight Parc Ferme ahead of tomorrow’s eight stages to be run in Chisamba on the farms around Fringilla area.
 
Running times


SS1A
 

1. Mohammed Essa/ Moses Matovu – Zambia/ Uganda (Subaru N11) 00:01:38
2. Jamie Whyte/ Philip Archenoul - Zimbabwe (Subaru N10) 00:01:38
3. Giancarlo Davite/ Vindevogel – Rwanda (Subaru N11) 00:01:39
4. Muna Singh/ Dave Sihoka – Zambia (Subaru N10) 00:01:40
5. Paul Monge/ Ray Thornicroft – Zambia (Subaru N12B) 00:01:41
6. Ken Mukosa/ Nash Chisenga – Zambia (Subaru N8) 00:01:42
7. Ashish Patel/ Mali Chulu – Zambia (Subaru N6) 00:01:49
8. Geoffrey Chulu/ Lastone Chulu – Zambia (Toyota Corolla) 00:01:50
9. Jassy Singh/ Liam Jolly – Zambia (VW Golf 3) 00:02:05
10. Azim Ticklay/ Oswald Chibebe – Zambia Toyota Landcruiser) 00:02:11
11. Dani Beaini/ Adrian Sutherland – Zambia (Toyota Landcruiser) 00:02:1

SS1B
 

1. Mohammed Essa/ Moses Matovu – Zambia/ Uganda (Subaru N11) 00:01:33
2. Giancarlo Davite/ Vindevogel – Rwanda (Subaru N11) 00:01:33
3. Jamie Whyte/ Philip Archenoul – Zimbabwe (Subaru N10) 00:01:35
4. Muna Singh/ Dave Sihoka – Zambia (Subaru N10) 00:01:36
5. Paul Monge/ Ray Thornicroft – Zambia (Subaru N12B) 00:01:36
6. Ken Mukosa/ Nash Chisenga (Subaru N8) 00:01:37
7. Ashish Patel/ Mali Chulu –Zambia (Subaru N6) 00:01:41
8. Geoffrey Chulu/ Lastone Chulu – Zambia (Toyota Corolla) 00:01:45
9. Jassy Singh/ Liam Jolly – Zambia (VW Golf 3) 00:01:47
10. Azim Ticklay/ Oswald Chibebe – Zambia (Toyota Landcruiser) 00:01:55
11. Dani Beaini/ Adrian Sutherland – Zambia (Toyota Landcruiser) DNS (00:06:33)

 
Overall Classification (SS1A + SS1B)
 

1. Mohammed Essa/ Moses Matovu – Zambia/ Uganda(Subaru N11) 00:03:11
2. Giancarlo Davite/ Vindevogel – Rwanda (Subaru N11) 00:03:12
3. Jamie Whyte/ Philip Archenoul –Zimbabwe (Subaru N10) 00:03:13
4. Muna Singh/ Dave Sihoka – Zambia (Subaru N10) 00:03:16
5. Paul Monge/ Ray Thornicroft – Zambia (Subaru N12B) 00:03:17
6. Ken Mukosa/ Nash Chisenga – Zambia (Subaru N8) 00:03:19
7. Ashish Patel/ Mali Chulu – Zambia (Subaru N6) 00:03:30
8. Geoffrey Chulu/ Lastone Chulu – Zambia (Toyota Corolla) 00:03:35
9. Jassy Singh/ Liam Jolly – Zambia (VW Golf 3) 00:03:52
10. Azim Ticklay/ Oswald Chibebe – Zambia (Toyota Landcruiser) 00:04:06
11. Dani Beaini/ Adrian Sutherland – Zambia (Toyota Landcruiser) 00:08:44