adminwin the Rwanda Mountain Gorilla Rally this weekend.
The tough Rwanda Mountain Gorilla Rally is the penultimate round of the eight-event 2011 FIA African Rally Championship series and will run from this Friday to Sunday in the Central African country.
This year’s top motor racing event in Rwanda has attracted a strong field of 21 drivers drawn from several African countries and among them will be Zimbabwean motor rallying hotshot Rautenbach.
The talented 26-year-old driver heads out to Rwanda oozing with confidence after he swept to victory in last weekend’s Toyota Cape Dealer Rally in Cape Town, South Africa.
The Toyota Cape Dealer Rally was the seventh of the eight-round 2011 South African Rally Championship series in which Rautenbach is also representing Zimbabwe.
His victory last weekend saw him regaining the South African Rally Championship lead in the process with just one round remaining.
And this was the tonic that Rautenbach needed ahead of this weekend’s Rwanda Mountain Gorilla Rally in which he will also be out to maintain his lead at the top of the 2011 ARC Drivers’ Standings.
Rautenbach, who surged in front in the championship race from the onset after winning the opening round of the series – the Toyota Zimbabwe Challenge Rally at his home turf in March – is enjoying an 11-point lead at the top of the ARC Drivers’ Standings over fellow Zimbabwean Jamie Whyte.
The soft-spoken young driver has amassed a total of 105 points after notching up three wins, one fourth-place and one sixth-place finish in five of the first six rounds of this year’s ARC series in Zimbabwe, South Africa, Zambia, Kenya and Tanzania.
Rautenbach only missed one event in this year’s ARC series – the KCB Pearl of Africa Uganda Rally in July – as he had commitments in the South African Rally Championship.
He is now looking for another victory in the tough continental event in the Rwanda Mountain Gorilla Rally this weekend and a win will edge him closer to his second African title in four years.
Rautenbach first clinched the ARC Drivers’ crown in 2007.
His task in Rwanda this weekend has been made easier by the withdrawal from this event of his nearest title rival, fellow Zimbabwean Jamie Whyte, who is unable to compete in Rwanda Mountain Gorilla Rally as he is still mourning his mother – Meta – who died in Harare last Thursday morning.
Meta Whyte’s funeral service will held this morning at 11 at Gecko Gardens along Enterprise Road in Harare.
The absence of Jamie Whyte in Rwanda this weekend will see Rautenbach getting the pre-race favourite tag ahead of a number of other top African and Rwandese drivers who have entered for the three-day event.
According to reports from Kigali, 21 drivers have confirmed their participation in the Rwanda Mountain Gorilla Rally which dusts off this Friday.
Top on the list is 2007 African champion Rautenbach, last year’s winner Rudy Cantanhede of Rwanda, Kenya’s Jas Mangat, local national champion Fitidis Christakis and his rival Davite Giancarlo.
Other drivers to watch out for include the Ugandan trio of Charlie Lubega, Charles Muhangi and Ponsiano Lwakataka and Valery Bukera and Alain Dethise from Burundi.
George Richard, Duncan Mubiru, Nasser Mutebi, Geoffrey Kiyaga, Edson Mugyereza, Wycliff Bukenya, John Murengezi, Mitraros Elefter, Claude Kwizera and Mayaka Felekeni, Madagascar’s Jean Yves and
Ranaivamampianini Rila, who won in Tanzania, and their compatriots Frederic Rakotomanga/Adam Yachine also make the list. It will be all work and no play for these drivers when the 600km race rolls off with a super special stage this Friday at Gahanga quarry.
With two races left in the eight-legged ARC series, the battle for the African title is between Rautenbach and Whyte.
Rautenbach who finished fourth in last month’s Kobil Rally of Tanzania, enjoys an 11-point lead at the top of the ARC charts with 105 points.
Online Reporter