Conrad Rautenbach rules the roost

Zambia International Rally in Lusaka and Chisamba at the weekend.
Navigated by France’s Nicholas Klinger, the 26-year-old Zimbabwean finished the 585.49km event on a time of 2 hours, 34 minutes and 14 seconds.
Rautenbach has now accumulated 75 points in the ARC series and looks the firm favourite to clinch this year’s title with five more rounds to go in Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda and Madagascar.
The 26-year-old talented Zimbabwean driver dominated the 585.49km rally in Zambia comprehensively from start to finish, winning 15 of the 17 stages that made up the rally that had eight finishers from 17 starters.
Rautenbach, who was watched on by his father, retired legendary Zimbabwean rally driver Billy, has now won three successive ARC rallies after laurels from the Toyota Zimbabwe Challenge Rally in March and last month’s Sasol Rally in South Africa to increase his points tally to 75.
And after cruising to victory in Lusaka on Sunday, Conrad indicated that he was going to compete in the fourth round of the ARC series – the KCB Safari Rally of Kenya – in Nairobi during the weekend of June 17 to 19.
Conrad said he was hoping to score more points from next month’s KCB Safari Rally of Kenya.
But the Zimbabwean driver quickly indicated that he would miss the fifth round of the continental competition – the Pearl of Africa Uganda Rally – to be staged the following month in the East African country.
Speaking shortly after winning in Zambia on Sunday, Conrad ruled himself out of the Uganda rally because it is clashing dates with the Volkswagen Rally, the fourth round of the South African Rally Championship (SARC) series, which will also be held on the weekend of July 15-16 in Port Elizabeth.
Apart from competing in this year’s ARC series, Conrad is also representing the country in the SARC competition this year in which he has already won two of its first three rounds – the Total Tour Natal Rally in March and the HMC Hencom Autobody Rally two weeks ago.
He also finished third in the Sasol Rally last month.
The Sasol Rally, which was staged last month in Nelspruit, South Africa, was the second round of both the 2011 ARC and SARC competitions.
And after registering these three good results in South Africa in the past two months, which has seen him taking a comfortable lead at the top of the SARC Drivers’ leaderboard, Conrad has decided to miss the KCB Pearl of Africa Uganda Rally in July.
This will enable him compete in the Volkswagen Rally in which he will be hoping to emerge triumphant and preserve his lead at the top of the SARC Drivers’ Standings.
The absence of Conrad in Uganda is likely to open the way for his fellow Zimbabwean driver Jamie Whyte to close the gap on him at the top of the ARC Drivers’ Standings. Whyte (50) came second behind Conrad in Zambia at the weekend and he remained in second place in the continental title chase.
And Whyte, the reigning African champion, welcomed the news that Conrad would miss the race in Uganda, but he quickly added that it would be a tall order to dislodge the former Citroen Total Junior Team driver from the summit of the ARC.
Whyte, however, said he would make full use of Conrad’s absence from the KCB Pearl of Africa Uganda Rally to narrow the gap in his quest for a third straight African title.
At the weekend in Zambia, Whyte, at the wheels of a Jialing Subaru Impreza, held on to second position and maintained an identical position in the ARC after finishing seven minutes 17 seconds quicker than Zambian Mohammed Essa, who himself scored his maiden points of the African race.
The 21-year-old Essa, piloting a Madison Subaru N11, said his target was second position but considering the myriad of mechanical problems he suffered on Saturday, he was happy with a podium finish.