Karan raring to go as ARC action revs off on Friday

Karan Patel, the only Kenyan who has taken part in a World Rally Championship (WRC) event, since the Safari Rally exited the global stage 19 years ago is looking forward to racing at the Equator Rally which will act as a dry-run for the return of the WRC in Kenya.

Equator Rally has attracted 33 drivers, 20 being Kenyan, as drivers seek to quench their thirst for action following the cancellation of the Africa Rally Championship (ARC) season-opening Mountain Gorilla Rally in Rwanda as well as the Kenya National Rally Championship (KNRC) Machakos Rally. 

Equator Rally was previously the official ARC round for Kenya on the ARC series prior to the dropping of Safari from WRC in 2003. With Safari’s elevation, Equator regains its original status after being defunct for 19 years.

"We finished a test session on Sunday and the car is ready for action. It is going to be a wet rally so we prepared the car for such conditions. It is just another rally but an important one as well so we have triple-checked everything before heading to Naivasha.

"I am definitely expecting competition from the Kenyan contingent as well as the foreigners. There are about ten foreign entries and I cannot tell whether they will be my competition or way out of my league or vice versa. From the Kenyans my biggest competition has to be Baldev Charger and Carl Tundo. It is not going to be an easy rally and it will be a matter of deciding whether to push from the word go or hang around until the final stages and see how everyone else is doing. We will know how to handle this from the shakedown and from the qualifier stage which will give us an opportunity to judge what needs to be done during the main event," said Patel in an interview with Safari Rally TV.

"As a rally driver I am looking forward to the rally as a whole but Sleeping Warrior is one of my favourite stages of the rally. It is a long stage and I enjoy long stages because I build my endurance and the long stages are where I get to beat the other drivers who tend to get tired towards the end of such stages. 

We are only allowed to Recce once so that one loop will be very important and is going to play a big role in the final result of the entire rally. Normally i give Recce 40% importance but this time it might contribute more to the final results. I, however, am confident the one loop Recce will work in my favour as I have very good judgement of roads that I pass on and I tend to be able to remember them," he added.