Davite moves to fourth place on ARC standing

Rwanda national champion Giancarlo Davite has moved to fourth position on the FIA African Rally Championship [ARC] charts despite finishing 21st overall in the South African Sasol rally on Saturday.

Monday, April 22, 2013
Davite and Sylvia ahead of the Sasol rally. The New Times / Timothy Kisambira.

ARC points scored in Sasol rally1. Jan Habig (S.A) 25 points2. Jassy Singh (Zam) 18 points3. Giancarlo Davite (Rwa) 15 pointsRwanda national champion Giancarlo Davite has moved to fourth position on the FIA African Rally Championship [ARC] charts despite finishing 21st overall in the South African Sasol rally on Saturday.Davite & his navigator Sylvia Vindevogel in their N4 Mitsubishi Evo 10, struggled in the unfamiliar misty conditions but made sure they finish in order to register points in their bid for the ARC title.Drama struck the Rwandan driver when his clutch got stuck in Super Stage 6 and coasted to a halt. They fixed it and eventually managed to beat the time bar by a few minutes.Davite said, "Between the fog on Friday and rain and mud on Saturday, it was a daunting task. And having finished the rally is a great achievement.”"But I still feel bitter for not having registered a better result and even take a second place finish ranking in the African rally because of a stupid technical problem. A clutch pedal fully blocked in a super special stage."We leave South Africa with 15 points and a 4th place in the provisional championship. We are satisfied and focus now shifts to Zambia next month,” added Davite.Heavy rains resulted in stoppage of SS12 after the 4x4 cars all passed and the S1600 2WD cars all got stuck. The 2WD cars were all given a bogey time. The SS13 and SS14 were cancelled after the Zero car got stuck. South African Jan Habig, who finished sixth overall in the Sasol rally, leads the ARC charts with 25 points.Zambia’s Jassy Singh, posted a total 18 points despite finishing 17th overall on his debut in the rally to come second.The Sasol Rally was also the second round of the FIA African Rally Championship, which attracted three entries from outside South Africa. Current ARC champions Mohammed Essa of Zambia and Greg Stead of Zimbabwe (N4 Subaru Impreza WRX) retired after an oil pipe broke just five kilometres into the first special stage and drained the engine of all its oil.Contest for this year’s Africa rally championship title will now head to Lusaka for the Zambia International Rally scheduled for May 17-19.