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East Africa Classic Rally recap: Winners, rules, next edition

Cars waiting to be pulled out by tractors after getting stuck in mud for hours in Teita Sanctuary stage. Baldev Chager, the last local driver, is a mere 10 minutes behind Eugenia Amos of Italy with three more stages remaining. 
 

Photo credit: Anwar Sidi | Nation Media Group

By  Abdul Sidi

What you need to know:

  • The World-famous rally runs every two years since its inauguration in 2005.
  • The organising team, under Joey Ghose, did a great job after successfully running the nine-day event, which ended a week ago.

The next East African Safari Classic Rally will be in 2025.

The World-famous rally runs every two years since its inauguration in 2005.

The organising team, under Joey Ghose, did a great job after successfully running the nine-day event, which ended a week ago.

Related

Italian Eugenia Amos and Paolo Ceci won the 2023 edition of the rally driving a Porsche 911.

Renzo Bernardi, the Clerk of the Course, was satisfied with the team that handled the event.

“The whole team was great and we worked very well together. The management team included about 10 senior officers excluding all the volunteers. There are lots of lessons that we learnt for the next event,” Bernardi told Nation Sport.

Raju Chagger, Chantal Young and Tash Tundo worked under Bernardi during the Classic Rally.

*****

The Class Winners in the 2023 East Africa Safari Classic Rally:

Overall Results: 1. Eugenia Amos/Paolo Ceci (Porsche 911)

2. Baldev Chager/Gareth Dawe (Porsche 911),

3. Kris Rosenberger/Nicola Bleicher (Porsche 911)

Class Cl1

1. Glen Edmunds/Lloyd Destro (Skoda 130 LR),

2. Asad Anwar/Rob Warmisham (Toyota Levine), 3. Michael Kahlfuss/Richard Bauger(Trabant P60)

Class CI2: 1. Nish Lakhani/Teeku Patel (Ford Escort MK1), 2. Eric Bengi/Mindo Gatimu (Opel Astra).

Class CI3: 1. Iain Dobson/Harry Stubbs  (Ford Escort RS1600),

2. Farhaaz Khan/Keith Henrie (Porsche 911),

3. Shakeel Khan/Assad Mughul (Ford Escort MK1).

*****

There were 24 Competitive Stages in the EASCR event.

The total Competitive Distance was 1634.65 kilometres.

The total distance on the transport sections was 1371.61km. The overall distance was 3006.26km.

*****

Rules of the East Africa Safari Classic Event are not as strict as in the Kenya National Rally Championship events.

While fireproof overhauls are compulsory in the KNRC series, Classic Rally does not apply that rule as long as the drivers sign the indemnity forms before the start of the rally.

Helmets and HANS (Head and Neck Support) devices must always be worn in the Classic Rally.

Apart from the main inspections of the cars, the officials will ensure the first aid box, warning triangles and fire extinguishers are fully loaded.

Any crew missing a Time Control faces a penalty of 30 minutes, while in the KNRC, the crew is disqualified.

In the Classic event, the crew is allowed to rejoin the event later. A crew failing to finish a stage faces a penalty of ideal time as per the Itinerary plus 75 per cent of the ideal time, which will be the maximum penalty for any competitor.

Every crew is allowed two hours of Service Time at the end of the Day’s contest.

Failing to complete the mechanical repairs within that period will result in another 30-minute penalty. Resuming with the competition after the 30-minute expiry period will cost a further two hours in penalty.

In the KNRC, a crew is allowed 20 minutes and another 30 minutes before it is time-barred.

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