By Feverpitch Reporter
After retiring in the second stage of the season-opening event in Kajiado in late January, defending champion Carl Tundo was back with a roar.
Tundo drove to glory in the Mount Kenya region after conquering all during the second round of the Kenya National Rally Championship (KNRC).
The four-times KNRC winner summoned up confidence and willpower in the latter stages to emerge the winner in the Rallye Sports Club (RSC) organised KCB Mobi Bank Nyeri Rally.
Tundo fought from the seventh place on Saturday’s Day One showdown to pull through in bravado as action culminated at the Kabiru-ini ASK Showground which hosted the spectator stage, service park, rally HQs and holding area.
Tundo, navigated by Tim Jessop in a Mitsubishi Lancer EVO9, clocked 1:28.05 hours to register his first win of the season.
Baldev Singh Chager — on his very first outing in his new Mitsubishi Lancer EVOX— finished second overall in 1:28.05 hours as Subaru N16’s youngster Quentin Mitchell settled for third incidentally, eight seconds behind the runner-up.
Fans who turned out at the spectator stage were treated to some exhilarating displays.
But some crews were quite concerned about crowd control and traffic which culminated into Ian Duncan’s accident at the CS9 Njengo stage and exit for the legendary in the tour of Nyeri.
In one of the rare occurrences, Duncan hit second of the event ambulances on CS9 causing extensive damage to his EVO9 car and eventual cancellation of the section.
Rue incudent
Duncan was left to rue the incident as the Did Not Finish (DNF) meant that he could not score Championship points in Nyeri.
“I think the guy who was first on the road must have really had a rough time. I hope we learnt a big lesson from this incident. Tundo had passed the ambulance guy so he should have stopped and packed by the roadside,” said Chager.
Chager, however, expressed optimism over his championship lead and his new car.
He leads the KNRC rankings with 140 points.
“We are now getting used to it. And there is lots of potential for this car,” Chager said.
Duncan was well on his course for Nyeri success but dipped to sixth position as at the second run of the spectator stage when he picked up a puncture.
Tundo led the pack after the early morning stages (4 and 5). The rally claimed quite a number of top drivers with Alastair Cavenagh retiring in service after CS6.
“We lost too much time in service and then with 42km of competitive distance remaining, we felt there was no realistic of catching Baldy (Chager), so we pulled out,” said Cavenagh.
Raji Bharij kissed the event goodbye with radiator gremlins. Other casualties were Alex Horsey.
Newcomer Davinder Sembi navigated by Frank Gitau in the ex-Baldev Chager Subaru N16 retired on Day 1 on Saturday along with Ugandan Champion Jas Mangat.
Sembi hit a culvert and damaged the gearbox, while Mangat was involved in an accident in Nyeri when he hit a civilian car.
Gurmit Thethy’s VW Golf GTI had issues with overheating and blew the engine in the last three kilometres to the end of the Kamakwa.
