Heavy rains mar Safari Classic Rally in Tanzania

FILE: A Classic Porsche 911 goes through a river crossing during 2017 EA Safari Classic Rally

Crews have done 546km in two days of action at Safari Classic Rally.

Heavy rains and flash floods in Ponane, Monduli and Samora in Arusha, Tanzania, led to cancellation of the third day of 2019 Safaricom East African Safari Classic Rally.

The three stages, which were to be covered yesterday by the 20 drivers, were affected by heavy down pour that rendered the road impassable.

“Day Three action has been cancelled after majority of the crews agreed. This was due to adverse weather conditions that made stages unsafe,” read a bulletin from event organisers.

Kenya’s Onkar Rai leads the event in his Porsche 911 followed by Austrias Kris Rosenberger in a Tuthill Porsche while former Classic and WRC winner Swedish Stig Blomqvist lies third.

Earlier in Day Two Baldev Chager won the previous five stages before his Porsche broke down abruptly following a gearbox problem. 

He could not beat the deadline to start SS6 as the car was being serviced. The crews have done 546kms in the last two days. The rallying distance is 3,390km.

Most drivers said they were contented with the roads so far. “The roads were okay but very tough and muddy. It’s good we finished Day Two. We tried as much as possible to race carefully considering that several cars faced problems,” said Stig Blomqvist, the 2017 champion.

Day Two overnight leader Kris Rosenberger of Austria said, "It was a fantastic day. The only issue was when the wiper fell off and my navigator Nikki (Nicola Bleicher) had to get out several times to wipe windscreen. We never had any other mechanical problem.”

Kenya’s Onkar Rai navigated by Gareth Dawe under Kabras Sugar Racing team said the second stage of Day Two was difficult as they faced problems.

“We are happy to be here after this long stage with failed fuel pump where we lost a lot of time,” said Rai.

Kenya’s Ian Duncan in a Rover Vitesse said: “It was a little harder on the hills. The mechanics worked all night and it was really good of them otherwise it would have been a different story. We are not feeling any pressure just running our race,” said Duncan.