Motor rally revs off today
THE eagerly anticipated Zambia International motor rally revs off
today in Lusaka with the ceremonial flag off at the Intercontinental
Hotel pitting the crème de le crème of African drivers.
The rally aces include three former African champions; Zambia’s Muna Singh, and Zimbabweans Conrad Reutenbach and Jamie Whyte.
And The Barn Resorts has weighed in with K35 million worth of
sponsorship for the gruesome rally which has a strong field of 18
drivers.
The event is the third on the FIA Africa Rally Championship (ARC)
circuit following the Toyota Zimbabwe Challenge and the Sasol South
African rally that have already seen the pieces in the continental
drivers’ chart jigsaw puzzle falling in place.
The three-day event that starts from the Intercontinental hotel will
tomorrow move to Chisamba where the drivers will make an overnight stop-over before resuming on Sunday morning on the same circuit.
The rally proper starts with the Special Spectator Stage at the Lusaka
Motor Club in the show grounds this morning and it will be preceded by the ceremonial flag off at the Intercontinental Hotel.
From Chisamba the drivers will move to Lusaka around the Barn area and later the ramp finish at Intercontinental Hotel, which is also the
headquarters of the rally.
This should be another installment from the local rivalry of
pre-championship favourites Muna Singh and Mohammed Essa who will have to set aside the camaraderie they forged when representing Zambia in the first two ARC legs in Zimbabwe and South Africa.
“We want to take advantage of being at home to make some points
because when we go to East Africa, it’s anybody’s game,” said Muna who did not hide his desire for him and Essa to grab the first two
positions.
Muna has bagged the Zambian title in the last two seasons and on both occasions he had to pip Essa to the crown on the very last day of the event after staying in billowing dust raised by his Madison teammate on the opening two days.
Essa, on his part, has no illusions about the challenge ahead and is
only hoping his Madison sponsored Subaru WRX does not misbehave like it did in South Africa when he failed to finish the Sasol rally.
Apart from the Muna versus Essa rivalry, the rally also marks the
emotional return of Reutenbach who won the 2008 event but the youthful driver never returned the following year to defend his crown.
Rautenbach who leads the African charts with 25 points apiece in
Zimbabwe and South Africa will be joined by reigning ARC champion, Whyte in the quest to mount the winners’ podium.
The 26-year-old Rautenbach warmed up for his third Zambia
International rally appearance by winning the HMC Hencom
Autobody Rally, the third round of the South African Rally Championship (SARC), on Saturday in Witbank.
“Our S2000 Ford Fiesta is probably faster than the Group N cars but
not as strong, so we have to look after it in the rough sections and
we have a healthy lead in the championship; the main aim is to try
finish as high up as possible,” he said.
Making his debut appearance in this year’s Zambian rally is South
African Schalk Burger junior in the land where his father spent years
as a rival to the retired legend Satwant Singh in their heyday.
Others who will be flying the Zambian flag in the rally include Ashish
Patel and evergreen Paul Monge who will be hoping for a better finish this year and prove that he is not just a make weight entry on a route he is all too familiar with these days.
Others are Kenny Mukosa in a Subaru Imprezza, the fans’ favourite Azim Ticklay who will be back in his Landcruiser, as well as the Chulu brothers, Geoffrey and Laston who drive a corolla and Muna’s son, Jassy, who is the only Golf entrant as he seeks to emulate his father. - TIMES OF ZAMBIA
