Davite targets points in Sasol rally today

FOLLOWING a brilliant finish in the opening round of the 2012 Africa rally championship (ARC), Rwanda’s rally champion Giancarlo Davite is eyeing a good finish in the Sasol rally which flags off today in South Africa.Davite left for South Africa on Monday to acclimatise and get used with the championship route before embarking on a busy encounter of trying to salvage crucial points.Before his departure, he told the press, “I want to win the championship but my priority will be finishing the race first.”Davite who crashed out of the last year’s edition on day two has his mind set on finishing the 700km race; a feat he reckons would help him in his quest to seal his maiden continental title this year.Davite has 12 points after finishing fourth in the opening round, Toyota Zimbabwe Challenge Rally last month. He finished behind Zimbabwean pair of Jess Watson and Craig Green who claimed first and second place, closely followed by Zambia’s Essa Mohamed.Davite who will be navigated by his long time navigator Sylvia Vindevogel in a Subaru Impreza N11 held a reccing session in the competitive sections on Wednesday.Title contenders Mark Cronjé and Robin Houghton have set their sights firmly on achieving the holy grail of motorsport winning their own sponsor’s event. Other contenders are Johnny Gemmell, who will drive his factory Toyota, Hergen Fekken and Enzo Kuun in their Volkswagen and Hans Weijs who competed in last year’s World Rally Championship.This year’s event, the second round of both the South African National Rally Championship and the FIA African Rally Championship, is the 21st to be sponsored by Sasol and organised by the South African Motorsport Club (SAM). There will be a total of 14 special stages covering around 200 kilometres of the 700-kilometre route, 10 of which will be on gravel roads, three on tarmac and one on grass.There was a shakedown stage in Sabie yesterday ahead of the event which gets underway today from the market square in Sabie with four gravel stages in the York Timbers forests on day one. It will end with the immensely popular tarmac night stages in Sabie and White River before the overnight stop in White River.Tomorrow’s first stage, a super special, which will be on the tarmac starts in Nelspruit before the first of the day’s six gravel stages, a new stage around the Mbombela Stadium. Competitors then return to the York Timbers forests for five gravel stages in the Hendriksdal and Sabie areas. The Lowveld Showgrounds are the traditional venue for the final, short stage on Saturday afternoon.Arc Drivers Championship 2012(Before today’s Sasol Rally-Round 2)Jess Watson (Zimbabwe) 25 pointsCraig Green (Zimbabwe) 18 pointsMohammed Essa (Zambia) 15 pointsGiancarlo Davite (Rwanda) 12 points

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Davite targets points in Sasol rally today