Kenyans Manvir, Chatthe enter Pearl Rally 2017

Speed machine. Jaspreet Chatthe will hope to navigate the Pearl of Africa Rally and enhance his chances of winning the Africa Rally Championships. COURTESY PHOTO

What you need to know:

  • ARC leader for Pearl Rally On 30 points, Kenyan Jaspreet Chatthe, in Evo X currently leads the ARC race by four points and is back for the event which helped him clinch the Continental title in 2015.

KAMPALA.

Africa Rally Championship (ARC) leader Jaspreet Chatthe is one of the two Kenyan drivers who have confirmed they will participate in this year’s Shell Pearl Rally.

The event, the fourth round of ARC and the fifth round of National Rally Championship (NRC), is scheduled for June 30 to July 2 and will be launched today.

According to Katende Mukiibi, the event secretary, the other Kenyan entrant is Manvir Baryan, a member of the Multiple Racing Team (MRT).
“Manvir and Chatthe are definitely coming and we have received their entries,” Katende Mukiibi told Daily Monitor.

On 30 points, Chatthe, in Evo X currently leads the ARC race by four points and is back for the event in which he clinched the continental title in 2015. He won the Pearl on his fourth attempt after failing to finish three times.

Manvir is not new in the Pearl Rally. He participated in the 2014 event finishing in a respectable fourth position in a time of 03:18:33, nearly 17 minutes behind fellow Kenyan Rajbir Rai who won the event.

Early this year, after five years of waiting, Manvir, in Skoda Fabia 1600 R5 savoured his maiden Kenya National Rally Championship (KNRC) victory in Mombasa Rally.

The Tundo family of Frank Snr, Carl and Natasha will decide before the close of the entries this Saturday on whether they will come for the 19th edition of the Pearl Rally.

“We are going to make a decision regarding our participation,” Natasha, who drives a Subaru N10 said in an email.

Elsewhere, the Zambian crew of husband and wife Leroy and Urshlla Gomes in Evo X and Kleevan Gomes and Latife Riyaz have also sent in their entries.

Meanwhile, unlike in the past, the event will open with a competitive section (CS) Nakufuma (18km) in the morning of June 30, before cars go to Busiika for two runs (4.36km) of Super Special Stage . The following day (Saturday) drivers will tackle 10CS spread over 212.64km.

2017 ARC standings (3 rounds)
Jaspreet Chatthe ( Ken) 30 pts
Leroy Gomes ( Zam ) 26
Carl Tundo (Ken) 25
Guy Botterill ( SA) 25
Kleevan Gomes (Zam) 16
Manvir Baryan (Ken) 15