Waldegard back in the groove

By Feverpitch ReporterLegendary driver Bjorn Waldegard was back in the groove as proceedings for the KQ East African Safari Classic Rally reached the penultimate stage at the serene Voi Wildlife Lodge.Waldegard’s Race4Change Porcshe 911 pulled in to the Lodge at 4.30pm and was enthusiastic of pulling away from South African Geoff Bell who led the event in the last two days.Waldegard’s teammate and local hero Patrick Njiru, who took over the Porsche 911 from American Travis Pastrana, was left to rue mechanical problems which stymied his run for the second day running.On Saturday, Njiru did the opening two stages but missed out of CS18 after the broke the rear axle of the Porcshe.And 10 kilometers before the TC End of CS19 yesterday, Njiru set the fifth fastest time and the axle just went down. NJiru said he anticipate to restart today if the car is fixed by the Tuthil Porsche mechanics. After slashing Geoff Bell’s lead to a mere seven seconds on Saturday, Waldegard was back in the lead on winning CS19 and was now leading the rally with 4.46minutes at the opening stage.Earlier, thousands of Nairobi fans witnessed some hair-raising thrills at the 2km (CS20A) Athi River Portland Cement spectator stage.The stage was won by Vintage Kronos Belgian driver Gregoire De Mevius. Gerald Marcy also won the preceding CS20 stage and was fighting to dislodge former World Champion from the podium position. Marcy was lying fourth behind Blomqvist as at CS20.Waldegard almost had the Classic title in the bag but he has had to struggle and push a lot more aggressively with a 41 minutes penalty he has accumulated so far.The Swede, who is being navigated by his son Mathias, went to bed on Saturday trailing South African Bell by a four minutes margin, but after winning the opening stage (CS19) yesterday he was back on top of things.Being first on the road on Friday, Waldegard came across a lorry stuck sideways in a mud hole and hit it at the back end, thus suffering a superficial damage to the roll cage but lost time in fixing the mess. Only three stages stand in between Waldegard and the title which he won with his son Mathias in 2007.The Classic has been a preserve of Kenyan drivers after Rob Collinge won it twice in a row in 2003 and 2005. Ian Duncan won the title two years ago.

Waldegard back in the groove

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Waldegard back in the groove

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