Giancarlo eyes redemption in upcoming Africa rally events

After spending a year out of motorsport racing, former national rally driver Davite Giancarlo has said that he is optimistically looking forward to the upcoming Africa Rally Championship (ARC) events following his return to the cockpit two weeks ago.

Monday, July 10, 2017
Davite Giancarlo and and his navigator Sylvia Vindevogel at a past event. File.

After spending a year out of motorsport racing, former national rally driver Davite Giancarlo has said that he is optimistically looking forward to the upcoming Africa Rally Championship (ARC) events following his return to the cockpit two weeks ago.

The former national rally champion made a return to racing with the 2017 Pearl of Africa Rally in Uganda on the weekend of June 30 and July 1. It was his first ARC race since the 2015 Mountain Gorilla Rally before he was suspended by Rwanda Automobile Club (RAC) on allegations of indiscipline.

With his long-time navigator Sylvia Vindevogel, the popular ‘Omulette’ driver has said that he is now looking forward to the upcoming ARC events.

"It really feels good to be back and Pearl of Africa Rally made my return so special. I enjoyed almost everything about the event. This is best Pearl of Africa Rally I have ever done. The routes were so perfect, the competition and then our finish,” said Giancarlo.

"Finishing third on ARC event after a stop of almost two years is a big achievement for us. I am likely to do only two events out of the three remaining events, I might do Rwanda and Zambia and I hope to do better,” he further noted

Giancarlo was out for a year following a ban from RAC which withheld his license and after several attempts to return even under a Burundian license failed last year, the Italian-born was able to finally compete but under a Belgian license.

Only three races remain on this year’s ARC calendar before the final champion is recognized and these include Rally Tanzania, Rwanda Mountain Gorilla and Zambia International Rally.

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