Senior Rally ace Rajiv Ruparelia has been confirmed in the list of eight Ugandan drivers flagged off by the Federation of Motorsport Clubs of Uganda (FMU) ahead of this weekend’s Equator Rally in Naivasha, Kenya.
The two-day Equator Rally will be the second round of the extended Africa Rally Championship (ARC).
The crew of 8 members includes Yasin Nasser, Duncan Mubiru, Jas Mangat, Ronald Sebuguzi, Kepher Walubi, Hassan Alwi, and Rajiv Ruparelia will boost the event that has attracted a host of continental drivers.
While the rest of the crews have had their share of the ARC event, Ruparelia will be looking forward to making his debut in the highly-rated continental championship.
“It’s just one of those rallies added on our experience journey. Kenya is the ultimate circuit to gain experience.
“We gained some experience from the first round. So our expectations is to first have a clean event and finish the rally hopefully in the good position which will count to the Kenyan championship,” Enoch Olinga, Ruparelia’s navigator and co-driver.
The event is a precursor for the much awaited WRC Safari Rally scheduled for June this year. Eleven stages will be covered; with a total competitive distance of 206.72kms.
On Friday, ARC crews will take on a qualifying stage of 5.40km that will determine their starting position on Saturday. The non ARC registered crews will then take on a shakedown in the same stage.
Full list of 35 ARC Equator Rally Participants
1 Rajiv Ruparelia -Enoch Olinga F UG -Volkswagen Polo/Proto
2 Tejveer Rai -Gareth Dawe KEN-Volkswagen Polo-R5
3 Ian Duncan -Tej Sehmi KEN -Nissan 240RS -Classic
4 Carl Tundo -Tim Jessop KEN -Mitsubishi Evolution 10
5 Onkar Rai -Drew Sturrock P KENUK Volkswagen Polo -R5
6 Baldev Chager -Ravi Soni KEN – Mitsubishi Evolution 10 RC2-R4
7 Karan Patel -Tauseef KhanKEN-Ford Fiesta -R5
8 Jasmeet Chana -Ravi Chana – Mitsubishi Evolution 10
9 Issa Amwari-Job Njiru KEN Mitsubishi Evolution 10
10 Amaanraj Rai -Oslaj Viljem -UG -SLOV- Ford Fiesta R5
11 Giancarlo Davite -Sylvia Vindevogel RWA- Mitsubishi Evolution 10
12 Pratul Ghose -Imran Khan UK-KEN-Volkswagen Polo
13 Eric Bengi -Peter Mutuma -KEN Mitsubishi Evolution 10
14 Yasin Nasser -Ali Katumba F UGUG-Subaru Impreza
15 Duncan Mubiru -Musa Nsubuga UG Subaru Impreza
16 Kepher Walubi -Muhamadi Asuman UG Mitsubishi Evolution 10
17 John Ng’ang’a -Edward Ndukui 1 KEN – Subaru Impreza
18 Nikhil Sachania -Deep Patel – KEN – Mitsubishi Evolution 10
19.Aakif Virani -Azhar Bhatti -KEN -Skoda Fabia R5
20 Piero Canobbio -TBA -KEN – Mitsubishi Evolution 10
21 Hassan Alwi -James Mwangi-UG -KEN -Subaru Impreza
22 Mcrae Kimathi -Shameer Yusuf 1 KEN – Subaru Impreza
23 Steve Mwangi -Dennis Mwenda -KEN- Subaru Impreza
24 Guy Botterill -Simon Vacy-Lyle -RSA- Toyota Etios RC2-R5
25 Christakis Fitidis -Eric Nzamwita – UG RWA- Mitsubishi Evolution 10
26 Hussein Malik -Linet Ayuko- Mitsubishi Evolution 10
27 Evans Kavisi -Absolom Aswani 2 KEN – Mitsubishi Evolution 10
28 Ronald Sebuguzi -Anthony Mugambwa UG – Mitsubishi Evolution 10
29 Jonathan Somen -Richard Hechle -KEN -Ford Escort MK2 Classic
30 Kailesh Chauhan -Tariq Malik 2 KEN – Ford Escort RS -Classic
31 Edward Maina -John Ngugi 1 KEN – Subaru Impreza
32 Nzioka Waita -Tuta Mionki -KEN -Mitsubishi Evolution 10
33 Daren Miranda -Wayne Fernandes -KEN- Subaru Impreza RC2
34 Geoff Mayes -Suzanne Zwager -KEN – Landrover Tomcat
35 Hamza Anwar -Riyaz Ismail 2 KEN -Subaru Impreza
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