Zambia’s Leroy Gomes is in pole position to win the 2022 Rwanda Mountain Gorilla Rally after finishing at the summit of Leg 1 of the race in Bugesera District on Saturday, September 24.
Gomes, who is driving Ford Fiesta R5 with his wife Urshila Gomes, claimed the top spot of the race after racing 100.35km of the seven competitive special stages in 47 minutes and 33 seconds.
He will be competing in Sunday’s race with an advantage of 13,3 seconds ahead of Kenyan Karan Patel who came to compete in this year’s Rwandan Rally as hot favorite to win it.
It’s, however, not been quite a bad start for Rwandan drivers as they struggled to shine on Saturday.
Giancarlo Davite, who drives Mitsubishi Lancer EVO, emerged the best Rwandan performer during the Leg 1 race, as he now sits ninth overall with a 6 minute and 34 seconds gap to the top spot.
It was even worse for Queen Kalimpinya who is driving in the race for the first time, as she and her co-driver Olivie Ngabo are ranked bottom of the provisional classification after leg 1 played Saturday.
Drivers started the Leg 1 race at Gako while they wrapped up Day One in Ruhuha.
They resume the race on Sunday, September 25, in a race that will determine who will be crowned of the Rally champion.
The 2022 Rwanda Mountain Gorilla Rally, the 6th event of the African Rally Championship, is the flagship event of the motorsport fraternity in Rwanda.
The event is run in compliance with the FIA International Sporting Code and its appendices, the 2022 FIA Regional Rally Sporting Regulations, the Rwandan National Sporting Regulations, 2022 FIA African Rally Championship regulations which comply with the FIA regulations and the Supplementary Regulations for this event.