Karan Patel of Kenya won the season-ending Sarago Zambia International Rally in Lusaka, but he lost the FIA African Rally Championship (ARC) to Ndola’s Leroy Gomes.
Despite winning four of six rounds in Kenya (Equator), Rwanda (Mountain Gorilla), Tanzania, and Zambia, Karan, who is also a candidate for the 2022 Kenya National Rally Championship crown, saw the coveted title slip through his grasp.
Karan’s return to the muddy Pearl of Africa Uganda Rally in May on “Super Rally” cost him valuable championship points, as he finished the Kampala-based event in a poor 10th overall position.
However, success at the 48th Rallye Bandama in Côte d’Ivoire in February gave the husband and wife duo of Leroy and Urshlla Gomes a head start in the six-leg race, whose final round in South Africa was canceled owing to financial restrictions.
After finishing second in Côte d’Ivoire, Gomes finished second in the next five rounds in Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda, and Zambia to claim his first career title on home soil.
After Jassi Chathe in 2015, Don Smith in 2016, Manvir Baryan’s famous hat trick in 2017-19, and Carl “Flash” Tundo’s immaculate drive in 2021, he now ends Kenyans’ seven-year reign of the title.
