Tundo Heads To Machakos Assured Of Fourth KNRC Title

 NAIROBI, Kenya- Three time Kenya National Rally Championships (KNRC)winner, Carl ‘Flash’ Tundo is assured of a fourth title at the eighth and final leg of the competition ,dubbed the 39th Guru Nanak Rally, at Stoni Athi in Machakos County this Sunday.

Tundo and his co-driver, Tim Jessop, have already accumulated 168 points in the circuit, with only 25 to be won in the last round in Machakos.

Their closest challenger, Baldev Chager, and his navigator, Ravi Soni, have 135, meaning Chager and Soni can only amass a total of 160 points if they triumph in Stoni Athi.

"I’m very satisfied going into the competition as a champion. It’s been a very hard fight and I'm overly excited that we have finished every single event this season. We have proven that we have the pace. We are looking forward for a good event there,” Tundo underlined.

On top of the KNRC title, Tundo has been a dominant figure in motorsport this season, winning the Safari, Kenya Motor Sports Club (KMSC), Rallye Sport Club (RSC) and the Nanyuki rallies.

New season

Just like Tundo, Chager is also assured of a second place finish in the KNRC as third placed Eric Bengi (83) cannot overtake him even if the latter emerges victorious in Machakos.

Chager has admitted the crown is already gone with Tundo and his focus now is to start preparation for the new season that commence in February 2019.

"Flash had a very spirited drive in Eldoret and he beat me by three seconds. The championship is done and dusted. We are going to the competition just to have fun,” Chager underscored.

Bengi will be out fighting for third position against former Divison Two Champion, Onkar Rai, reigning and two-time African Rally Champ (ARC) Manvir Baryan and Farhaaz Khan of Oilibya Racing team.

Former ARC Champion, Jaspreet Singh Chatthe aka Jassi will also make a return to the season closing event. Chatthe, who racked up an unprecedented ARC and KNRC double in 2015, will drive a Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution 10 R4 in preparation for next season.

Gugu Panesar will co-drive the Kisumu based speed merchant, who last tackled the KNRC on the ARC Safari Rally in 2018.

“Guru Nanak to me is a special event as I started my career there with the Evo 9 in 2011. I will be tackling the contest for fun as I warm up for 2019,” Chatthe emphasised.

The contest will be flagged off at Stoni Athi Resort at 07:15am (+3 GMT) after which crews will tackle three stages of which Stoni Athi (58km) and SGR (15km) will be repeated twice. The designated spectator stage (3km) is the shortest and would be repeated thrice.

2018 KNRC STANDINGS

Main Class

1. Carl Flash Tundo 168/(champion)

2. Baldev Chager 135

3. Eric Bengi 83

4. Onkar Rai 79

5. Manvir Baryan 78

6. Fazzy Khan 72

7. Jasmeet Chana 48

8. Tejveer Rai 38

9. Ammar Haq 37

10. Sohanjeet S. Puee 28

Division One

1.Eric Bengi 155 (champion)

2.Jasmeet Chana 106

3. Aakif Virani 63

Division Two

1. Sohanjeet S. Puee 166 (champion)

2. Ammar "Bushy" Haq 138

Division 3

1. Nikhil Sachania 128 (champion)

2. Edward Maina 96

3. Imran Khan 50

Group N (down to the wire)

1. Eric Bengi 150

2. Farhaaz Khan 135

3.  Jasmeet Chana 106

B13 Class

1. Carl Tundo 139 (champion)

2. Bakdev Chager 107

3. Aakif Virani 65

S Class

1. Sohanjeet Pure 173 (champion)

2. Edward Maina 101

3. Imran Khan 91

 2WD (Formula 2)-down to the wire

1. Sarit Shah 121

2. Daren Miranda 105

3. Hamza Anwar 50

SPV Class

1. Nikhil Sachania 113 (champion)

2. Geoff Mayes 32

3. Ian Duncan 25