How Karan missed ARC title narrowly
Karan Patel of Kenya won the season-closing Sarago Zambia International Rally in Lusaka on Sunday but it was not enough to guarantee him the FIA African Rally Championship (ARC) overall title which he lost to Ndola based speedster Leroy Gomes.
Karan, who is also a contender for the 2022 Kenya National Rally Championship title back home, saw the coveted title slip through his grasp despite winning four out of six rounds in Kenya (Equator), Rwanda (Mountain Gorilla), Tanzania and Zambia.
Rejoining the muddy Pearl of Africa Uganda Rally in May on “Super Rally” also saw Karan lose vital championship points as he wrapped up the Kampala based fixture in a disappointing 10th overall position.
A head start
But victory in the 48th edition of Rallye Bandama in Côte d’Ivoire in February gave the husband and wife team of Leroy and Urshlla Gomes a head start in the six-leg competition whose last round in South Africa was called off due to financial constraints.
After Côte d’Ivoire, Gomes finished second in the subsequent five rounds in Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda and Zambia to seal his maiden career title on home soil.
He now brings to an end the seven-year dominance of the title by Kenyans after Jassi Chathe in 2015, Don Smith in 2016, Manvir Baryan’s memorable hat trick between 2017-19, and most recently Carl “Flash” Tundo’s peerless drive in 2021.
In Lusaka, Karan drove like a man possessed, beating the new champion (Gomes) by a 0:.01.02minutes margin as Junior WRC star McRae Kimathi sealed the podium tussle in his M-sport Poland prepared Ford Fiesta Rally3.
A podium finish in the sixth round of the continental series was enough for Kimathi junior to seal the ARC3 title much to his credit.
Hamza Anwar’s fourth overall in Zambia also guarantees him the 2022 ARC Junior title which was won by McRae last year.
The core contenders on the 2022 ARC front -who included Karan and the rally youngsters’ quartet of Maxine, Jeremiah, McRae and Hamza - all skipped the season-opening Côte d’Ivoire round and only kick-started their spirited campaigns on ARC Equator Rally Kenya.
Dropped
Bandama was for the umpteenth time the season opener for the FIA- regional series first held in the early 1980s.
Bandama was part of the World Rally Championship for drivers and manufacturers from 1978 to 1981, and part of the drivers’ championship only in 1977 and from 1982 to 1992. In 2006, Rallye Bandana was part of the African Rally Championship, but was dropped for the 2007 season due to reports by observers.
