AfricaPress-Tanzania: KILIMANJARO rally whizzkid, Gurjit Dhani says missing out the World Rally Championship (WRC), that was to make a possible return to Kenya in July, deeply affected him and his team mates.
The Skoda Fabia superstar said he can’t compete in the world class event because of his car modification though it is among the reliable WRC machines.
Speaking from Moshi, Kilimanjaro yesterday, Dhani said he and his Harry Singh Team mates, Ajminder, Rajpal Mandeep showed interest to test their driving skills against the global level wheelers, but the types of their cars don’t suit the world class rallying.
“My car is a group S class though it mostly used by WRC drivers while traditionally group A and N can be allowed,” he said. Adding Gurjit said The WRC cars are restricted to using 1600cc engines. Cars may be naturally aspirated or turbocharged, ran by petrol fuel, with exception of class R3D, which is for diesel supercharged engines.
Christened WRC Safari Rally Kenya, the event was meant to make his debut in July this year, but the iconic event was postponed to 2021 due to coronavirus scare.
Gurjit said the coronavirus threat has deeply affected motorsports to the extent it has affected the drivers fitness after staying idle for over ten weeks now.
He said even if the rally would be staged in July this year, none of them could manage to participate after many countries restricted movement and big gatherings.
“We import many rally gear and spares from outside Tanzania, most notably Kenya, a country where my navigator Absalom Aswan hails. With borders closed many things can’t be done now,” he added.
Still, according to Dhani, most drivers are delighted to see WRC back to East Africa after so many years. He said the new-look Safari Rally will be an event “completely new for the present generation of drivers.”
Safari, which is regarded as the world’s toughest rally, hasn’t featured on the WRC calendar since 2002 when Colin McRae and Nicky Grist secured a near three-minute victory over Harri Rovanperä and Risto Pietiläinen.
The gruelling motor rally event has been featuring as a round of the FIA African Rally Championship. This year was to mark Safari’s first appearance on the WRC schedule after an 18-year hiatus.
Multiple former world champion Sébastien Loeb is incidentally the only driver in the current crop of WRC speedsters to grace the Safari 18 years ago, although it’s unclear if he would have been selected for Hyundai’s third i20 Coupe WRC.
The Safari was, however, the latest WRC round to be lost to the coronavirus last week after rallies of Argentina, Italy and Portugal.
“Many years have passed since Bert Shankland and Zully Rehmtulla and Nizar Jivani used to be Safari Heroes in the 1970s, I think our generation is not conversant with Safari and since they don’t know much about it.
