Zimbabwe’s speed merchant Conrad Rautenbach has maintained the lead of the overall standings of the 2011 African Rally Championship series despite finishing fourth in the Kobil Rally of Tanzania at the weekend.
Pre-race favourite Rautenbach (26) finished fourth in the tough three-day Tanzanian event on Sunday, coming home behind Madagascar’s Jean-Yves Ranarivelo, Jamie Whyte of Zimbabwe and Zambia’s Mohammed Essa.
Reports from Tanzania had earlier indicated that Rautenbach had surrendered his lead in the continental championship race to fellow Zimbabwean Whyte after Sunday’s race.
But Rautenbach still maintains the lead of the overall standings of the 2011 FIA ARC series with Rwanda and Madagascar yet to host their events. Whyte’s second overall place has helped him to climb 11 points off Rautenbach’s tally.
This was clarified yesterday by Temba Mazvimbakupa of the Zimbabwe Motorsport Federation.
“The winner of each ARC series round gets 25 points while the second-placed driver gets 18 points, the third-placed 15 and the fourth-placed 12.
“So, by coming fourth in the Kobil Rally of Tanzania at the weekend, Conrad Rautenbach earned 12 points and this should take his tally in the ARC standings to 105 points.
“And by coming second in Tanzania at the weekend, Jamie Whyte got 18 points. So, he is still sitting in second place with 94 points but is now trailing Rautenbach by 11 points at the top of the ARC Drivers’ Standings,” Mazvimbakupa said.
But Whyte is still on course to win the third African title in a row and his co-driver Phil Archenoul was pleased with their overall performance during the weekend’s Kobil Rally of Tanzania.
“Being the first car on the road did not help us on the second day. It was just crazy and at times extremely dangerous to find big trucks on either sides of the road at high speeds.
“Amazingly we were still able to set superior stage times to finish second overall,” said Archenoul told reporters at the end of the Kobil Rally of Tanzania on Sunday. Madagascar’s Ranarivelo shrugged off stiff opposition from Whyte to win the Kobil Rally title in a dramatic finish. Navigated by Ranaivamampianini in a Subaru Impreza, Ranarivelo becomes the sixth foreign driver to win the Tanzanian round of the ARC series after Uganda’s Riyaz Kurji, Belgian Patrick Emontspool, Zambian Muna Singh, Japanese Hideaki Miyoshi and Zimbabwean Whyte.
They are also the first-ever set of competitors from Madagascar to win a round of FIA-sanctioned series since making their debut in the competition early last season.
“I am very excited and very happy to win my first-ever ARC race. The event was good and our car was also good despite minor mechanical problems,” Ranarivelo was quoted as saying after Sunday’s race.
His victory in one of the most famous rounds of the ARC series overshadowed the anticipated battle between Whyte and his compatriot Rautenbach, whose interest in the chase for the ARC title was the focal point of the competition.
The 2011 ARC series now heads to Rwanda for its penultimate round – the KCB Rwanda Mountain Gorilla Rally – which is scheduled to run from September 30 to October 2 in the Central African country.
November 25 to 27 will see the staging of the eighth and final round of the series – the Total Rally International Madagascar – in the Indian Ocean island.
Rautenbach and Whyte are expected to take part in both events as the fight for this year’s ARC Drivers’ crown goes to the wire.
Latest 2011 FIA Africa Rally Championship
Drivers’ Standings:
1.Conrad Rautenbach (Zimbabwe) 105pts
2. Jamie Whyte (Zimbabwe) 94pts
3. Jean-Yves Ranarivelo (Madagascar) 40pts
4. Alan Dethise (Madagascar) 37pts
5. Mohammed Essa (Zambia) 30pts
6.Fredrick Ratokomanga (Madagascar) 28pts
7.Muna Singh (Zambia) 24pts
8.Schalk Burger (South Africa) 18pts