Tough times for Zim drivers

Safari Rally of Kenya where they both failed to finish in the top three yesterday.
According to Temba Mazvimbakupa of the Zimbabwe Motorsport Federation who watched the event in Nairobi at the weekend, Whyte and Rautenbach had to contend with finishing fourth and fifth respectively after three days of high octane racing in and around the surrounding areas of the Kenyan capital.

The 2011 KCB Safari Rally of Kenya was won for the third year running by Kenyan champion Carl “Flash” Tundo.
Tundo maintained his dogged campaign in search of a rare KCB Safari Rally hat-trick when he outran the entire field from Day One on Friday to yesterday afternoon.

The Lanet-based wheat farmer is reported to have driven like a man possessed claiming most of all the stages in the three-day event, which was full of drama and anxiety.
Second place went to Uganda’s Jas Mangat ahead of veteran Kenyan driver Ian Duncan who relegated the reigning African champion Whyte of Zimbabwe into fourth place.
In fifth place was pre-race favourite and 2007 winner Rautenbach of Zimbabwe who came home ahead of Kenya’s Raaji Bharij who settled for sixth place.

KCB Safari Rally of Kenya once again proved to be the hardest battle for man verses machine.
Truly so, the 59th edition of the Safari lived up to its billing as the “World’s Toughest Rally”, as out the 80 cars that were flagged off on Day One on Friday, only 15 managed to last the distance.

The KCB Safari Rally of Kenya this year acted as the fourth leg of the 2011 FIA African Rally Championship series in which Whyte and Rautenbach are competing for Zimbabwe.
And technically, Whyte emerged as the top finisher among the ARC-registered drivers in this event while Rautenbach was placed second.

The top three finishers yesterday – Tundo, Mangat and Duncan – are not registered for the 2011 ARC series and this allowed Whyte to get the first podium finish among the continental championship-registered drivers ahead of fellow Zimbabwean Rautenbach.

This is the first time that Whyte, who was driving a Subaru Impreza, has managed to beat Rautenbach in four attempts this year.
Rautenbach went into the KCB Safari Rally of Kenya leading in the ARC Drivers Standings with 75 points after winning the first three rounds of the series in Zimbabwe in March, South Africa in April and last month in Zambia.

Whyte was lying in second place with 51 points and has now closed the gap between himself and Rautenbach at the top of the standings after his fourth place finish in the KCB Safari Rally of Kenya yesterday. But the two experienced Zimbabwean drivers will be the first to admit that they found the Kenyan event no child’s play as they drove in tough conditions throughout the three days of action from Friday to yesterday afternoon.

Rauntenbach looked set to dismantle the Kenyan brigade during Friday’s Jamhuri Park spectator stage after he went to bed with a three-second lead.
The spectator stage at Jamhuri Park was watched by an enthusiastic crowd of 10 000.

But the 26-year-old Zimbabwean had to contend with playing second fiddle to Tundo who topped Day Two proceedings on Saturday with three stages to spare.
Third place on Saturday went to Madagascan Safari debutants Jean Yves Ranarivelo and Rila Ranaivomamianina in a Subaru Impreza. Jean timed 2.02.26 while Uganda’s Mangat, who was competing on a

Kenyan licence, settled for fourth in 2:03.41 ahead of veteran Duncan.
Rautenbach’s Green Fuel Ford Fiesta S2000 was the talk of town after Leg1A but fears that the Zimbabwean would clear the ground with all and sundry evaporated soon enough when Tundo set the quickest time on CS2.

“We had a puncture and the stages are very rough; not good for our car which isn’t used to rough stages. We are trying not to destroy our car which is quite difficult on these bad roads. We can’t attack on these stages. Our car is already falling apart. Now I just want to try and get to the finish,” Rautenbach told reporters after Saturday’s action.

Rautenbach trailed Tundo by 41 seconds after CS2 but an excruciating puncture on CS4 dipped him to seventh overall as cars headed to the overnight Perc Ferme at Isinya and the Zimbabwean never recovered after that.

But credit must go to Rautenbach for managing to “drag” his Ford Fiesta all the way to the finish line yesterday, coming home in fifth place, one place behind fellow Zimbabwean Whyte.
Many prominent drivers met their Waterloo in rolling hills around Il Bissel, 94 km south of Nairobi along Namanga Road on Saturday where the Safari lived up to its reputation as the toughest test for man and

machine.