2022 Kenya National Rally Championship: Chana out to widen lead in Machakos

Jasmeet Chana "Iceman" co-driven by Ravi Chana during the WRC event in June. [Mose Sammy, Standard]

The eighth round of the 2022 Kenya National Rally Championship (KNRC) series heads to the expansive Lisa Farm in Machakos County tomorrow.

Focused to widen his lead in the second last round of the series is competition leader Jasmeet 'Iceman' Chana who is commanding the standings with 187 points.

Chana enjoys a 20-point advantage over second-placed Karan Patel who has bagged five of the eight rounds.

Surprisingly, Chana has not won any of the rounds of the series, he has instead finished all the eight legs of the season in second place.

Ahead of the Machakos contest, Chana has been putting many hours into the works this week, doing performance tests in Maili Tisa region to ensure his Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution X is meticulously prepared for grueling battle ahead.

"The car has undergone vigorous test-drives in the past week. We are hopeful that all will go well during the event," he told Standard Sports.

"There are no new parts fitted to the car after the last Bamba rally in Coast but all we have done is to make sure everything is working the way it should be.

"But if it rains on the race-day, then it will be very tricky as Lisa Farm is all black cotton soil. All in all, it will be exciting to see how the title fight with Karan pans out at Lisa," the Ongole Beef sponsored Chana said.

Patel, on the other hand, dropped to second position on the log after failing to finish the Mombasa Motor Club Bamba Rally which counted towards the seventh edition of the 2022 series.

Third placed Leonardo Varese is out of contention for the main KNRC title but will be going for an unprecedented double victory in the Two Wheel Drive and Division 3. Varese only needs a finish to seal both titles. [Ochieng Oyugi]