Fitness and Intelligence helped us win Pearl rally- Kikankane

The 2021 National Rally champion Duncan “Kikankane” Mubiru has attributed his come win at the 2023 Shell V-Power Pearl of Africa Rally to "intelligence and fitness."

The Ford Fiesta Proto driver beat defending champion Jas Mangat and the powerful Ford Fiesta R5 of Yasin Nasser to the crown.

"We had issues with the car and we drove six sections on day one with steering problems," Mubiru said as he attributed the hard work to his co-driver after a tough start.

"To win we used the Intelligence and fitness. My co-driver Joseph Bongole is a professional mechanic so he handled issues of the car well.

In the last section of day one (Edwin Kalule section), we got a puncture which cost us time," added the Wandegeya-based driver who now feels he has fulfilled a dream after winning the Pearl Rally.

“My dream was to win the National Rally Championship and then Pearl of Africa Rally. Since we have now achieved our dream, we can focus on the National Rally Championship 2023.

“It is just the beginning of yet another exciting season. Good enough every one tested the hardness of Pearl and whoever finished is a victor,” Mubiru said.

He added that after learning that challengers Nasser and Mangat had dropped out on Day One, he had to return on day two aware that the super rally rule favoured him.

“We used our intelligence in the longest section on Day Three which is the Magamaga section (39.80kms). We had to back off a bit and not push a lot because we knew that the time penalties suffered by the two (aforementioned) crews would make it very hard for them to beat us," Mubiru added.

It was the eighth time Duncan Mubiru was participating in the event and his previous best finish was third in 2015 - behind Kenyan Jaspret Chatthe (Evo X) and Des Kananura (Subaru N14).

Now Mubiru joins other Ugandan drivers; Karim Hirji (1996), Chipper Adams (1997 and 1999), Charles Muhangi (1998), Charlie Lubega (2000, 2003 and 2004), Riyaz Kurji (2005 and 2006), Ponsiano Lwakataka (2011), Mangat (2013 and 2022) and Hassan Alwi (2016) as winners of this event.

Africa Rally Championship (ARC) leg winner Nasser said "it was a challenging rally but one that brought worthy smiles at the end of the day. Finishing as the third best local driver and winning the ARC leg was big achievement for the team. We are now looking forward to Tanzania."

Mangat who finished third in the ARC category said “it was crucial to battle to the last hour as our main focus was to pick the vital points for Pearl and be ahead of Karen Patel before the Tanzania Rally in July."

The only foreigner to take part in this event was 20 year old Rio Smith, a son to former African champion Don Smith.

Rio, who finished second in the ARC category, said that ”it was an amazing experience moving from a two wheel drive to the 4WD got and we enjoyed ourselves. We picked a good position finish and also got our first ARC points. Uganda has incredibly good technical roads that have everything not forgetting the fans that gave us motivation."

Ten drivers, out of the 24 that started, finished the event.

2023 Pearl of Africa Uganda Rally

National Rally Championship  Results

Duncan Mubiru& Joseph Bongole- 2:30:54:25

Byron Rugomoka & Hakim Mawandda- 2:32:30:42

Yasin Nasser & Ali Katumba- 2:39:54:87

Jas Mangat & Joseph Kamya- 2:45:25:12

Oscar Ntambi & Muhammad Asuman- 2:52:46:17

Ibrahim Lubega & Mustafa  Kanakulya- 3:02:23:43

Umar Dauda & Stven Bunya- 3:18:01:68

Fred Kitaka & Mildred Kibuuka- 3:21:16:45

Nasser Mutebi & Shakira Nabwami-3:43:22:22

Africa Rally Championship Results

Yasin Nasser -2:40:41:06

Rio Smith- 2:47:50:62

Jas Mangat- 2:47:53:31

Innocent Bwamiki- 3:41:26:99