Why Mangat should not give up on his ARC hopes
Calmness personified. Mangat has lowered the excitement his third placement at the KCB Kenya Safari Rally aroused by revealing that he hasn’t made his mind up about having a crack at the Africa Rally Championship title. PHOTOS BY JB SSENKUBUGE & JOHN BATANUDDE
What you need to know:
- Back in 2013, Mangat was denied the full-throated standing ovation that was quite possibly his due.
- The 37-year-old missed out on the ARC title that year if anything because he featured in only five events, including the season-ending International Madagascar Rally where he registered a DNF (did not finish).
Last weekend Jas Mangat added another draw to his roster of feats with a podium finish in the KCB Kenya Safari Rally. After, the Ugandan driver lowered the excitement his third placement aroused by revealing that he hasn’t made his mind up about having a crack at the Africa Rally Championship title. Yeah right!
Mangat is never one to be caught in a shiver of excitement, but we could be on the cusp of an exception this time round.
Pleasantly surprised by the warmth with which his performance on the dirt roads in Kenyan townships was received, Mangat’s apprehension about competing on the continent this season could well be shot to pieces. Changes wrought by last year’s FIA-Africa Congress could yet prove to be particularly attractive.
Besides keeping the door ajar for drivers not decided on contesting the Africa Rally Championship (ARC) title, FIA also went to extraordinary lengths to birth a cost-efficient calendar.
The calendar, which previously showed the championship in a most unflattering light, has been tailored to financially unburden drivers from rally regions (East Africa for one) with a rich pedigree.
The upshot of this, purely from Mangat’s perspective, is that he has a broad latitude with rallies in Zambia (June 22-24), Uganda (July 20-22), Tanzania (August 31-September 2) and Rwanda (October 5-7) offering cost-efficient options to chalk up much-needed points.
Back in 2013, Mangat was denied the full-throated standing ovation that was quite possibly his due. The 37-year-old missed out on the ARC title that year if anything because he featured in only five events, including the season-ending International Madagascar Rally where he registered a DNF (did not finish). Zambia’s Jassy Singh lifted the title on the back of featuring in seven events — two more than Mangat.
The new regulations instituted by last year’s FIA-Africa Congress are expected to do rich justice to levelling the playing field. Mangat will be hoping this translates into an African title. Charles Muhangi was the first and last Ugandan to land the ARC title.
That was just under two decades back in 1999! Could the monkey be shrugged off the back? Fingers crossed.
