NEW CARS FOR VOI RALLY: Tundo, Jasmeet to unveil new cars in Wundanyi as Duncan takes pole

Kabras Sugar Racing team Baldev Chager navigated by Ravi Soni power through the Lake Elementaita Lodge past spectator stage at Lake Elementaita Lodge on Saturday, June 11, 2016. [PHOTO: JONAH ONYANGO/STANDARD]

Excitement continues to grip the local motorsports fraternity what with the influx of state-of-the-art machinery into the rally series.

KCB Wundanyi Rally will witness two new cars into the eight-leg series driven by Jasmeet Chana and multiple Safari and Kenya Champion Carl “Flash” Tundo. Although no one knows what’s up the sleeves of ‘Flash’ Tundo, fans can be sure to see him in his Ford Fiesta Proto, a monster cross-breed of Ford Fiesta and Mitsubishi Evolution 10.

Tim Jessop will navigate Tundo, whose contraption is categorised as a Specially Prepared Vehicle (SPV).

The multiple rally winner will be second off the ramp at exactly 7:03 on Saturday when he sets off from Wundanyi start.

Legendary driver Ian Duncan will be the first off the ramp at 7:00am in an event which will be staged on 82 per cent private land around Taita Taveta County.

Duncan will be navigated by Amaar Slatch in a Mitsubishi Evolution 10 which is a Group N car.

Duncan, who leads Group N class. will lead a total of 34 drivers who have signed up for the Mombasa Motor Club-organised tour. The weekend rally makes up the fourth round of the eight leg 2016 Kenya National Rally Championship (KNRC).

Third off the ramp is speedster Rajbir Rai in a Ford Fiesta R5 car.

The Flying Finn Tapio Laukkanen is seeded fourth in a Subaru R4 ahead of Baldev Chager. Reigning champion Jassi Chatthe, Manvir Baryan also in a Ford Fiesta R5, Onkar Rai, Tejveer Rai and Piero Canobio of Mombasa taking off in 10th in that order.

Like Flash Tundo, former Group S and Two Wheel Drive champion Jasmeet Chana- who takes off in 13th position- will be unveiling his newly acquired Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution 10. Chana is partnering up with his elder brother Ravi Chana.

Izhar Mirza of Mombasa is seeded 11th followed by old war horse Frank Tundo. Both Mirza and Tundo senior have entered Evolution 9 machines and are strong contenders for tip 10 in Wundanyi. Mzee Tundo, who started his racing career in the early 70s before returning from a 25 year sabbatical in 2011 has always possessed the uncanny knack for eclipsing youngsters.

The rally will be flagged off outside KCB Wundanyi branch at 7am on Saturday. Thereafter cars will tackle a 9 km transport road section through to the 32.8km CS1 at Kishushe.

The second stage will be a short 0.6km super special which will lead the rally traffic to service A at Mwatate. After first service cars proceed to tackle two stages at Maungu- short (13km) and long (40kms) -which will be repeated twice with the service area relocating to Maungu region.

Crews will then tackle two more stages at New Twiga (17km) and New Ndovu (38km) to complete an energy-sapping 194kms of competition driving and 155km of liaison distance.

The two wheel drive will be a four man Toyota battle which has Eric Bengi and Sammy Nyorri in a Run X, defending champion and leader Leo Varese in a Corolla RSi and Alex Lairang’i in a 2012 championship winning Sprinter GT.

The classic car category will unfortunately feature one driver in Ramesh Vishram in a Ford Escort Mk2.

Defending Division Two champion Dennis Mwenda is back in a Evolution 9 under Silverspread Team Meru livery.