Patel eyes Mountain Gorilla Rally to keep ARC title hopes alive

Ranking Yasin Nasser 63 Nikhil Sachania 50 Carl Tundo 50 Jeremiah Wahome 42 Samman Vohra 36 Karan Patel 35 The 2025 FIA African Rally Championship is less than two weeks away from heading to Rwanda as drivers vie for glory at the highly-anticipated Rwanda Mountain Gorilla Rally scheduled for July 4-6. Kenya’s Karan Patel’s hopes of defending his African championship hang in balance despite securing crucial points in the Shell V-Power Pearl of Africa Uganda Rally that took place in May. Patel, driving a Skoda Fabia with his co-driver Tauseef Khan, started the 2025 season on a slow pace after he withdrew from Kenya Safari Rally in March which served as both the opening round of the African Championship and the third round of the FIA World Championship. Also read: Patel retains Rwanda Mountain Gorilla Rally The crew was forced to drop out on day two of the rally after their car engine clogged with heavy dust from the Fresh Fresh stage of Camp Moran 1. While he couldn’t score a single point on his home ground, Patel launched a fresh quest for yet another championship in round two of the African Rally Championship when he clinched the Pearl of Africa Uganda back in May with a borrowed engine. He is now ranked sixth overall with 35 points after two rounds and trail Ugandan driver Yasin Nasser who is leading the rankings with 63 points. Karan’s countryman and Nikhil Sachania is third, tied on 50 points with fourth-ranked 2021 African champion Carl Tundo also from Kenya. Patel’s victory in Uganda sparked a sigh of relief in his quest of what would be his third consecutive African Rally Championship. He is now betting on winning the Rwandan rally which would earn him 35 more points enough to return to the race for the continental title. The fact that the Kenyan crew knows well the Rwanda dusty roads from Kigali to Bugesera, where they won the past two editions, puts them in pole position of claiming the title before heading to Burundi in August. They may be 27 points off the top but a victory in Rwanda would put their battle for the continental championship in high tempo with two more round to go, one in Burundi and the decisive one in Tanzania in September. Patel and Tauseef first conquered Africa in 2023 in a Ford Fiesta R2 while last year, they topped the ARC rankings in a Skoda R5. “We plan to try to defend our ARC title which will mean we win it for a third consecutive time,” Tauseef said. “It’s not an easy journey but we thank our team for supporting us and being with us throughout this journey.” Rwanda Mountain Gorilla Rally could attract at least 35 drivers battling glory for the 386 kilometer ride which will kick off with the opening round at Kigali Convention Center before heading to Bugesera for another two rounds battle in the dusty rods of Gako and Nemba.

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Patel eyes Mountain Gorilla Rally to keep ARC title hopes alive