Onkar Rai Seeded First As Chager Braces For A Hat-Trick In Kilifi Rally

NAIROBI, Kenya- Premier Class driver Onkar Singh Rai will be the first one off the ramp when the KCB Kilifi Rally revs off in coast region on Friday.

Navigated by Gareth Dawe, the former Division 2 champion will savor his first ride on the VW Polo R5 which is the latest super car to grace the eight-leg Kenya National Rally Championship (KNRC).

Rai has already tested the Polo locally and will be among the star attractions in Kilifi.

READ MORE: Overjoyed 'Flying Sikh' Chager Wraps Dramatic Safari Rally Triumph

Although no one knows what's up his sleeves, this will be known when 23 cars start the fourth round of the KNRC series at Mombasa Cement Limited from 7:00 pm (+3 GMT) onwards on the day.

Rai’s teammate Baldev Chager has reiterated that R5s will be strong through and through in 2019. 

“I’m approaching Kilifi with lots of respect despite all the confidence generated from my back-to-back wins.

“The strategy is like every other KNRC; really nothing different at all. We go out to do the best we possibly can. 

“But it’s a fact that the R5s will be better through and through and there’s no comparison with Evos. Tundo and I were just lucky on Safari when Manvir’s Skoda R5 sucked in dust and Onkar was out of the event,” underlined Chager.

Chager is seeded second on the Mombasa Motor Club (MMC) organized round and will be going for a rare hat trick behind the wheels of a Mitsubishi Evolution 10- R4.

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Seeded third is another Kabras driver Tejveer Rai who will be teaming up with Gavin by Laurence in another R4 Mitsubishi Evolution 10.

Newly crowned FIA African Rally Champion Manvir Baryan will be flagged off in the fourth slot alongside his British co-driver Drew Sturrock.

Baryan will be piloting a Skoda Fabia R5 model which has literally swept the ground with all its race adversaries across the African continent over the past three seasons.

Although Onkar’s Skoda won the season-opening Nakuru Rally, Manvir’s Skoda is yet to register a win this season.

Baryan, who skipped Nakuru, lost the WRC Candidate Safari Rally on the very last stretch after his Skoda sucked in dust at Kedong. He also saw his fingers slip through Kadiado after Chager beat him by a mere 36 seconds.

The KCB Kilifi Rally begins with a 21.31km special stage on Friday night in the dark and then continues with another eight competitive stages on Saturday. This contest is the only round of this year’s KNRC circuit at sea level.  

PROVISIONAL START LIST 

CAR NO. 4 Onkar Rai/Gareth Dawe (VW Polo R5)

CAR NO.  3 Baldev Chager/Ravi Soni Mitsubishi Evolution 10) 

CAR NO.  8 Tejveer Rai/Gavin Lawrence (Mitsubishi Evolution 10) 

CAR NO.  2 Manvir Baryan/Drew Sturrock (Skoda Fabia)

CAR NO.  9 Jasmeet Chana/Ravi Chana (Mitsubishi Evolution 10)

CAR NO.  10 Izhar Mirza/Kavit Dave (Mitsubishi Evolution)

CAR NO.  15 Ammar Haq/Victor Okundi (Mitsubishi Evolution 10)

CAR NO.  18 Sohanjeet Puee/Adnan Din (Subaru Impreza)

CAR NO.  26 Paras Pandya/Falgun Bhojak (Mitsubishi Evolution 10) 

CAR NO.  93 Pietro Canobbio/TBA (Mitsubishi Evolution 10) 

CAR NO.  22 John Ng'ang'a/George Njoroge (Subaru Impreza)

CAR NO.  50 Issa Amwari/Job Njiru (Mitsubishi Evolution 10)

CAR NO.  27 Minesh Rathod/Sameer Yusuf (Mitsubishi Evolution 10)

CAR NO.  11 Karan Patel/James Mwangi (Subaru Impreza)

CAR NO.  53 Raaji Bharij/Rajay Sehmi (Porsche 911)

CAR NO.  55 Hussein Malik/Linet Ayuko (Mitsubishi Evolution 10)

CAR NO.  95 Adil Mirza/Guveer Pandhal (Mitsubishi Evolution 8)

CAR NO.  92 Nashad Kara/Kailesh Chauhan (Subaru Impreza)

CAR NO.  33 Evans Kavisi/Absolom Aswani (Subaru Impreza)

CAR NO.  36 Daren Miranda/Wayne Fernandes (Subaru Impreza) 

CAR NO.  42 Geoff Mayes/Suzanne Zwager  (Land Rover)

CAR NO.  94 Amit Vaja/Willy Kibata (Subaru Impreza)

CAR NO.  96 Arjun Patttni/Dinesh Varsani (Subaru Impreza)