With 119 km of the 137km of SMC Challenge rally, the event attained a 75percent coverage and was complete.
Whether the two stages were not held, it is true stage six was held because some cars completed it, thus, the rest of the crews got the time of those who completed the stage.
That leaves Jas Mangat, the winner of the event which was the second round of the national rally championship having got the best time lost.
The question of whether his results can be upheld or not is now a question for the participants to take the proper process.
Mangat now leads the National Rally Championship standings with 110 points, 30 points ahead of the second placed Jonas Kansiime who has 90 points.
Co-driven by Enock Olinga in Hyundai i20, Mangat, the three-time National rally champion is targeting his fourth national silverware.
Mangat posted a total time loss of an hour,26minutes,47.9 seconds, beating challenger Nasser Mutebi navigated by Steven Bunya in Mitsubishi Lancer Evo9 who came second after posting an hour,39minutes, 6.9 seconds (1:39:06.9).
The Equity Bank ambassador Dr. Moustapha Mukasa navigated by Lawrence Mwambazi in a Mitsubishi Evo9 came third, an improvement from last event’s performance where he finished fourth in Mbarara.
Mangat, however, did not get the additional 10points the winner of the power stage gets following the canceling of the stage for safety concerns.
Clerk of the course Shafik Matovu told Vision Sport that he canceled the power stage because there was not enough time which would cause safety challenges.
“We canceled the power stage because we did not have time, so no driver scored a bonus for that stage,” Matovu said.
He explained that the morning heavy rain made some routes impassable, and some cars blocked the way in stage six which affected the flow of his itinerary and cancelled the last stage.
The SMC Challenge rally was the second leg of the NRC and 11 out of 25 drivers finished the two-day event that had 119.35km of 137.43km of the entire rally.
Three-time national rally champion Ronald Sebuguzi was among the casualties of the event as he dropped out on Day due to turbo and gearbox failures.
The SMC Challenge helped the crews to prepare and fine tune their machines ahead of the Pearl of Rally next month May 10-12 in Jinja which doubles as the third leg of NRC and the opening leg of the Africa Rally Champion.
SMC Challenge rally provisional results
1.Jas Mangat 1:26:47.9
2.Nasser Mutebi 1:39:06.9
3.Moustapha Mukasa 1:42:56.6
4.Jonas Kansiime 1:46:43.4
5.Didas Matsiko 1:52:16.4
6.Isaac Ssozi 1:52:17.4
7. Fred Busulwa 1:57:06.1
8. Faisal Kayira 1:58:16.2
9.Edward 1:58:30.0
10. Julius Ssemambo 2:01:38.61
11. Hajji Amir Kavuma 2:08:30.8
Top five on NRC Standings:
Jas Mangat 110pts
Jonas Kansiime 90
Moustapha Mukasa 89
Didas Matsiko 75
END.
