Women drivers take centre stage as Equator Rally rolls off Naivasha ramp
The Skoda Fabia of Ugandan driver Amanraj Singh Rai, navigated by Kenya’s Gurdeep Panesar, is wheeled out of the Service Park at the Kenya Wildlife Research Training Institute in Naivasha on March 31, 2022 ready for Friday’s qualifying rounds for the ARC Equator Rally.
What you need to know:
- This weekend’s rally serves as a dress rehearsal for the June 23-26 World Rally Championship Safari Rally and will tackle most of the stages set up for June
- This weekend’s rally will include three other female competitors namely Maxine Wahome, Sylvia Vindevogel and one more to be named later who will partner Wahome
- The most successful driver in the championship's history is Zambian driver Satwant Singh with eight championships
The African Rally Championship’s Equator Rally round starts in Naivasha with Friday’s shakedown with female drivers expected to make a stronger presence this time round.
This weekend’s rally serves as a dress rehearsal for the June 23-26 World Rally Championship Safari Rally and will tackle most of the stages set up for June. Zambia’s Urshilla Gomes, who traditionally navigates her husband Leroy Gomes, said she was looking forward to the Equator Rally with high hopes.
“We’ve done the Equator Rally before in 2019 when it was the candidate event for the World Rally Championship. We are planning to do the Safari Rally this year while our aim is to tackle the whole ARC series this year after winning the Bandama Rally,” Urshilla told Nation Sport from Zambia.
"We are driving a Ford Fiesta R5. We have just won our first rally in Ivory Coast, the Bandama Rally 2022. We have been racing from 2014 having tackle the ARC twice Once a full year in 2017 and half in 2019. We are the current Zambian National Champions from 2019 and 2021,” she extolled their pedigree.
This weekend’s rally will include three other female competitors namely Maxine Wahome, Sylvia Vindevogel and one more to be named later who will partner Wahome.
WRC Safari Rally and ARC Equator Rally Service Park Manager Joe Muchiri (right) briefs his staff on March 31, 2022 ahead of ahead of the April 1-3 Africa Rally Championship round Equator Rally.
Meanwhile, Karan Patel, who has been in excellent form having won the two opening rounds of the 2022 Kenya National Rally Championship in a Ford Fiesta, is the driver to watch in the Equator Event.
Patel, who is navigated by Tauseef Khan, tested his rally car at the Kasarani Super Special circuit last weekend to make sure the machine is in excellent form before trying to win his first ever Equator Rally.
Team member David Boro has a look at the rear suspension of the Mistubishi Lancer Evo X of brothers Jasmeet Chana and Ravi Chana at the Equator Rally Service Park in Naivasha on March 31, 2022 ahead of the April 1-3 Africa Rally Championship round.
After Friday’s shakedown, the main event will take place Saturday with three competitive stages that will be done three times.
The stages will be Soysambu (29.32 kilometres), Elementaita (15.08 kilometres), and Sleeping Warrior (23.05 kilometres).
The total competitive distance will be 183.82 kilometres.
The second day will feature two more stages, namely Loldia (19.17 kilometres) and Kedong (31.25 kilometres).
By the end of the rally on Sunday, the crews will have done eight stages covering a total distance of 546.83 kilometres of which the competitive distance will be 183.82 kilometres.
The African Rally Championship is run under the auspices of the International Automobile Federation (FIA).
The Toyota Hilux Safety Car for the ARC Equator Rally at the rally's Naivasha Park on March 31, 2022 ahead of ARC Equator Rally which will be flagged off on Saturday.
The championship was first held in 1981 and won by the legend, Shekhar Mehta.
The most successful driver in the championship's history is Zambian driver Satwant Singh with eight championships.
The reigning ARC champion is Kenyan driver Carl Tundo.
The continental championship series has frequently incorporated Africa's most popular rally, the WRC Safari Rally.
Workers put up the start and finish ramp at the Kenya Wildlife Research Institute in Naivasha on March 31, 2022 ahead of ARC Equator Rally which will be flagged off on Saturday.
Currently, other African Rally Championship rounds are held in Côte d'Ivoire, South Africa, Zambia, Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania and Rwanda.
This rallies are the Bandama Rally (Cote d’Ivoire), Equator Rally (Kenya), Pearl of Africa Rally (Uganda), Rally of Tanzania, Mountain Gorilla Rally (Rwanda) and Rally of South Africa.
The Safari Rally will remain on the FIA World Rally Championship calendar until 2026 after a three-year extension to the current contract was signed in Monaco in January this year.
