Karan stamps his authority in Serengeti Rally as it ends Birdi-Huwel showdown

MOROGORO: KENYA’S Karan Patel emerged the overall winner of Serengeti Rally, the fourth and final round of this year’s African Rally Championship (ARC) concluded this evening in Morogoro.

Navigated by Tauseef Khan in Skoda Fabia, Patel led the dusty road from the start on to finish ahead of the rest in a spectacular finish.

With Tanzanian Manveer Birdi breathing fire close behind, Karan Patel held on steadily to clock the event’s fastest time of 02 hours, 02 minutes and 38.8 seconds.

The victory also earned Karan Patel the African Championship title after dethroning its holder, Yassin Nasser and his navigator Ally Katumba, who finished third overall in the Tanzanian round of this year’s ARC showdown.

CqTanzania’s Manvir Birdi claimed the overall runner up position also in Skoda Fabia.

Under the navigation of Zubayr Piredina, Birdi clocked 02 hours, 03 minutes and 11.5 seconds ahead of Yassin and Ally Katumba who finished third overall in 02 hours, 10 minutes and 28 seconds.

Tanzania’s Ahmned Huwel claimed the fourth position in ARC class after spending 02 hours, 10 minutes and 33 minutes under the navigation of Rahim Solanki in a Toyota GR Yarris.

Oscar Ntambi and Godfrey Nsereko claimed the fifth and sixth positions respectively under ARC classification.

Ntambi who clocked 02L32: 28.7 also claimed the ARC 2 title while Nsereko, who penned 02:45:47.7 was declared the winner of ARC 4 category.

Besides being a continental-level rally, Serengeti Rally also served as the fourth round of Tanzania’s National Rally Championship(NRC) for this year.

Manvir Birdi, who finished second in ARC class, was the overall winner for Tanzania while Ahmed Huwel became the overall runner up.

Morogoro-based youth, Overland Team’s Kithir Marey and his navigator, Awadh Bafadhil claimed the third position in their Mitsubishi Evo 10 after clocking 02:14:56 finishing ahead of Gurpal Sandhu and his Zamzbian co-driver, Dave Sihoka.

Fifth overall was Harinnder Deere and his navigator Victor Jackson also in Mitsubishi Evo X.

Kartik Valambhia and Ethan Taylor finished Sixth overall ahead of Salum Balhabou and Riyaz Ismail.

Charles Biko and David Matete claimed the 7th position in Subaru N12 while Bob Taylor and Monica Lyimo finished 8th overall.

Others who managed to finish the rally were Mussa Mswaki(9th j, Hamid Mbata(10th ) and Waleed Nahdi(11th ).