Yassin Nasser not under pressure to win Pearl Rally
Nasser has his thumbs up before even getting to the ramp. PHOTO/JOHN BATANUDDE
What you need to know:
The Pearl Rally is the third round of the ARC and raves off on Friday with a qualifying stage before crews take on the two-day battle in Eastern Uganda. from the race routes.
The 2019 National Rally champion Yassin Nasser, who is co-driven by Ali Katumba, has said he is not under pressure to win the 2023 Pearl of Africa Rally that is set for this weekend in the districts of Buikwe and Jinja.
Nasser will drive his new Ford Fiesta R5 in this event and will have Kenya driver Karan Patel also in a similar car for competition.
“Our target this season as we have always said is to learn the car," Nasser said.
"We need more sitting time and this event is not different from others we are just going to do our best.
“We will not just go and put ourselves under pressure. If you drive under pressure, it results to breaking the car and also making mistakes," the Moil Rally Team driver said.
He further expressed that they are looking forward to collecting Africa Rally Championship (ARC) and NRC points from this event as they wait for the outcomes from other events of the season.
Last year while driving a Subaru GVB, Nasser finished fifth overall in an event won by Jas Mangat.
With drivers Patel (Ford Fiesta R5), Mangat (Mitsubishi Evo X), Ronald Ssebuguzi (Ford Proto) and Duncan Mubiru (Ford Proto) coming into this event with lots of experience on their hands, it is one the hardest races to predict in recent times. But the favorite to win the event should be among the five.
We also asked Nasser whether he will be conscious because of the current wet conditions but he gave little away.
“We have prepared well and two weeks back we tested the car on wet surface when we took part in the FMU sprint in Buloba. So we now know what it takes," he said as he urged fans to work with and obey safety guidelines.
The Pearl Rally is the third round of the ARC and raves off on Friday with a qualifying stage before crews take on the two-day battle in Eastern Uganda.
