Youngster Jeremiah bags second career victory at Mombasa cement rally
Reading Time: 3min | Mon. 11.09.23. | 08:38
Jasmeet Chana finished second to extend his lead at the helm
Twenty-four-year-old Jeremiah Wahome racked up his second career Kenya National Rally Championship (KNRC) victory following a brilliant display in the iconic Mombasa Motor Club round.
Driving a Ford Fiesta Rally 2 and navigated by home driver Victor Okundi, Wahome sped to his second win of the season in a cumulative total of 2 hours, 12 minutes, and 12 seconds.
The Coast tour was incidentally a repeat of the season-opening RSC Machakos Rally, where Wahome cleared the ground with all his stage adversaries.
Wahome, who has previously represented Kenya in the FIA African Rally Championship as well as Safari’s WRC3 category, beat Jasmeet Chana by a 1 minute, 19 second margin to move to the second position on the KNRC log.
Samman Vohra driving a Skoda Fabia Rally 2, won the Clubman category with a blistering pace.
After failing to finish Day One’s night stage on Saturday. Samman rejoined the rally on Sunday morning to partake in the Clubman category.
But Vohra bounced back with the fastest times on all Day Two speed tests, including a joint lead with Wahome on the 41.17km SS3 Wild Cat stage.
Despite Wahome’s win, Chana extended his massive lead on the 2023 KNRC log after the dust settled on the season’s only sea-level event.
But it was an absolutely blissful sea-level experience for the winning pair as Wahome’s navigator, Okundi, celebrated his maiden career home win.
“Words alone can’t explain the excitement of my first national home win and second career KNRC win and that they’ve both come in the same season makes this my best season this far.
We had our own set of challenges, the worst of which was the loss of the intercom before the start of CS4. So, Wahome’s incredible ability to memorize all his notes came in quite handy as we couldn’t hear each other at all for the whole 44 km,” Okundi said.
The result in North Coast’s Vipingo also went down as Wahome’s third podium of the season after finishing third in Eldoret. He has had two retirements so far in the nine-leg season at the WRC Safari and ARC Equator Rally events.
Former three-time Open Class Motocross Champion Anthony Nielsen, navigated by Nairobi’s Riyaz Ismail in a Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution X, completed the podium dash in a time of 02:14:18.
“Yes, we enjoyed the MMC rally night stage with a third fastest time and this morning we were fighting with Nielsen for second, and we pushed harder in the second loop and were able to pass him. Second overall has given us a push even further in the championship. The car has been running flawlessly, and I thank my team for an awesome job,” Jasmeet said after the event.
Big night stage finish sends Izhar flying on home soil
Home driver Izhaz Mirza delighted the home fans in the opening night stage (SS1) to put himself right in contention heading into Sunday’s four-stage challenge.
The Coast Pekee Racing team’s Izhar is a member of Mombasa Motor Club, and he made all that local knowledge count as his 39-second advantage over Wahome moved him to the summit on home soil after the dust settled on Day One proceedings.
