By our reporter
Rally driver Yasin Nasser’s hopes of writing history as the only Uganda driver to participate in the World Championship rally ended on a very sad note.
The Tanzanian born navigated by Uganda’s Yasin Nasser rolled in Kedong 2 stage which was the final stage of Day two in Naivasha damaging his Ford Fiesta R5 rally 2 beyond fixing for the next day.
The crew will have to fly the car to M-Sport UK for fixing, so that it can be available for the Pearl of Africa rally in May which is the opening leg of the Six Africa Rally Championship (ARC) this year.
M-Sport UK is the sole supplier of the Ford Fiesta R5.
The 43-year-old, country for MOIL Uganda and Kenya began racing in 2015 with Subaru N10 in the inaugural UMC Mountains of the Moon rally that was won by Arthur Blick Jr.
He went on to win the Uganda National rally championship in 2019, and in the 2021 finished second in the Africa Rally championship but also emerged the ARC2 champion.
Nasser went on in 2023 to win both the Tanzania and Uganda national rally championship and narrowly lost the ARC by finishing third behind winner Karen Patel and second Jas Mangat.
Kalle Rovanpera in charge as Toyota dominate Safari rally
Meanwhile Reigning two-time World Champion Kalle Rovanpera of the Toyota Gazoo Racing team took charge of the WRC Kenya Safari rally winning all the stages on Friday.
The 23-year-old, Finnish driver, co-driven by Jonne Halttunen is aiming to maintain the pace to emerge the Safari Rally winner by the end of the world’s toughest rally on Sunday.
His Toyota teammates Elfyn Evans and Takamoto Katsuta powered their machines in the second and third places respectively.
Thierry Neuville the Hyundai’s sole challenger after his team’s retirement is pursuing a podium finish and targets to overturn a 6.5second gap he is trailing Katsuta.
The battle continues tomorrow in what is going to be the longest day featuring six stages including the 36km Sleeping warrior stage.
On Sunday the crews will showcase their skills, speeds and endurance in a 74km contest across six stages around lake Elementaita and then conclude the rally with power stage at Hell’s gate with the 11km power stage.
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