Pearl Rally entries sent to FIA in Paris

KAMPALA. The entry list of 42 crews for the 20th edition of the Shell V-Power Pearl of Africa Uganda Rally 2018 will be sent to the Federation of International Automobile (FIA) headquarters in Paris, as per the regulations, today.

“It is a mandatory requirement for record purposes for FIA to have the entry list,” Jeff Kabagambe, the clerk of the course, explained.
The event, which is the 5th round of the Africa Rally Championship (ARC) as well as the National Rally Championship (NRC), will run in Luweero and Kayunga districts on July 20 and July 21.

Unlike last year, with 10 foreign crews, this time round only two have managed to register for the annual event. Manvir Baryan from Kenya in a Skoda Fabia, winner of the event last also the reigning Africa champion and current leader plus Piero Cannobio in Mitsubishi Evo X, an Italian based in Mombasa, Kenya will tussle out with the 40 local crews.

However, the absence of more foreign drivers according to Kabagambe is due to the latest FIA directive last month regarding the safety fuel tank rule in all FIA events. “It was bad timing by FIA to implement the rule starting with the Pearl. The drivers were caught unaware.”
He went on: “You have to pity the drivers because they cannot compete in an event which they don’t score points.”

The local crews will be led by Jas Mangat (Evo X) current NRC leader, Ronald Ssebuguzi (Evo X), Duncan ‘Kikankane’ Mubiru (Subaru DVB), Alwi Hassan (Subaru N14) who won the event in 2016, Christakis Fitidis (Evo X), Susan Muwonge (Subaru N12B), Arthur Blick Jr (Evo X), Omar Mayanja (Evo X), Kephar Walubi (Evo X), Unisan Bakunda (Evo VI) and Dr Ahmed Ashraf (Subaru N14) to mention but a few.
Vivo Energy under their brand Shell V-Power have fueled in Sh110m in the event.

Day one- Busiika

CS1 A&B 4.36km
Day Two-Kayunga
CS2 Kitwe 19.95km
CS3 Shekhar Mehta 26.46km
CS4 Lwasa 25.97km
CS5 A.D.E.L 31.3km
Note: The sections will be done twice
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