ARC Equator rally revs off

Kenya National Rally Championship (KNRC) third leg which also serves as the Africa Rally Championship (ARC) second leg revs off on Friday 1 April, with the shakedown. As 23 crews compete for points. 

Before the Shakedown, which will be run adjacent to the Loldia airstrip along the Moi North Lake from 3.30 pm, the crews are up for a free practice from noon followed by a qualifying race on a 5.4km stage. 

Spectators will be able to access the shakedown through a Spectator Entry gate which will lead them to a secure parking location from where they can walk comfortably to the designated Spectator area. Fans will be in a position to follow proceedings of the event from seven designated viewing zones through the weekend. 

The first zone will be Friday's shakedown intended to help competitors warm their machines well in time. Only 14 ARC registered drivers will be permitted to take part in the Qualifying and Free Practice, subject to passing scrutineering. 

Zones two through to five of spectator viewing will offer them an opportunity to see rally cars at all three stages in Saturday's gruelling itinerary. Zones two and three will be centred on Soysambu Start and Soysambu End respectively while Zones four and five will be based at Elementeita and Sleeping Warrior. 

Zones six and seven on Sunday will be situated at Longonot Gate and Sawela Gate, both on Kedong. The Ntulele Conservancy off the Moi North Lake road will be the venue for the shakedown from 12.00hrs onwards on Friday. 

Saturday Leg 1 will see crews tackle three stages and repeat them twice. The first (and fourth) stage is the 29.32km Soysambu stretch. It is now almost 12 km longer than it was in 2021 and will take in some interesting features along the route, to include a compact spectator area near the start, rocky climbs, tricky fast runs, and the familiar sweeping sections before the two river crossings which lead to the finish of the stage in the same location as 2021. 

The second and fifth stages will be run at Elmenteita’s 15.08km section. With its naturally beautiful Lake Elmenteita as a unique backdrop, the 15km Elementaita Stage will be run in the opposite direction to 2021. Elmenteita will no doubt present iconic imagery with its grey volcanic dust, lush lakeside vegetation and the promise of a clear blue sky reflected on the Lake surface dotted with flocks of pink Flamingos. 

The third and final stage of Saturday features a 23.05km stretch in Sleeping Warrior. In the shadow of a hill that resembles a sleeping Maasai warrior, the special stage crisscrosses the natural plains before a rocky finish. 

The Stage will start after a Remote Refuel zone located adjacent to the Elmenteita crossroads, to wind its way through the challenging rockery that provided some incredible images in 2021. 

The second leg of the rally set for Sunday will feature two stages at Kedong and Loldia. Stage seven and eight in Loldia and Kedong is 31.25km long. After an overnight rest, the rally cars will head to Kedong Ranch for a 09:52 start for the first run of the longest stage of the 2022 Equator Rally, where two spectator zones have been created. 

ENTRY LIST ( FIA Approved)

1 (#200) Leroy Gomes/Urshlla Gomes ZAM-ZAM (Ford Fiesta -Rally2)

2 (#3) Karan Patel/Tauseef Khan KEN -KEN (Ford Fiesta-Rally2)

3 (#140) Jeremy Wahome/Victor Okundi KEN -KEN (Ford Fiesta -Rally3 )

4 (#9)Ian Duncan/Tej Sehmi KEN-KEN (Nissan 240RS)

5 (#6) Jasmeet Chana/Ravi Chana KEN -KEN (Mitsubishi Evolution 10)

6 (#18) Issa Amwari/Job Njiru KEN-KEN (Mitsubishi EVO 10)

7 (#202) Amaanraj Rai/Gurdeep Panesar UG -KEN (Skoda Fabia)

8 (#201) Giancarlo Davite/Sylvia Vindevogel RWA-BRD (EVO 10)

9 (#20) Maxine Wahome/TBA KEN-TBA (Subaru Impreza -NR4)

10 (#16)Raaji Bharij/Jasneil Ghataure KEN-KEN (Ford Escort MK1)

11 (#540) Rio Smith/Riyaz Ismail KEN-KEN (Ford Fiesta RC2)

12 (#19)Nikhil Sachania/Deep Patel KEN-KEN (EVO 10)

13 (#5) Aakif Virani /Azhar Bhatti KEN -KEN (Skoda Fabia -Rally2)

14 (#21) Paras Pandya/Falgun Bhojak KEN -KEN (EVO 10)

15 (#8) Mcrae Kimathi/Mwangi Kioni KEN -KEN (Ford Fiesta -Rally3 )

16 (#23) Steve Mwangi/Dennis Mwenda KEN -KEN (Subaru)

17 (#47) Izhar Mirza/Kavit Dave KEN-KEN Mitsubishi EVO 10)

18 (#22) Kush Patel/Mudasar Chaudry KEN -KEN (Subaru)

19 (#32) Edward Maina/Anthony Gichohi KEN -KEN (Subaru)

20 (#45) Zameer Verjee/Zahir Shah KEN -KEN (Subaru -NR4)

21 (#44) Leo Varese/Kigondu Kareithi KEN -KEN (Toyota Auris -2WD)

22 (#12) Hamza Anwar/Adnan Din KEN-KEN (EVO 10)

23 (#25) Evans Kavisi /Absalom Aswani KEN -KEN (EVO 10)