Champ Chatthe survives Safari carnage to lead Day 2

Champion Jaspreet Chatthe is in pole position to retain his crown following an incident-packed Day 2 of the 64th KCB Safari Rally on Saturday in Elementaita.

Chatthe (1:43:17)  took the overnight lead after taking the mantle from fast charging Rajbir Rai with 21 seconds separating the frontrunners as Finnish speedster, Tapio Laukannen (1:51:06) came third over seven minutes adrift.

Rajbir led the rally on the day’s penultimate stage but lost it due fuel pump problems on a day where the casualty count mounted with big boys among them two-time national champion and Day 1 leader, Baldev Chager bid the event goodbye.

Four-time Safari winner, Carl ‘Flash’ Tundo (1:53:47), 1994 champion Ian Duncan (1:54:21) and Onkar Rai (1:55:31) rounded the top six with the Finn driving the only non-Mitsubishi Evo X among the top finishers in his Subaru R4 machine.

Chatthe, the African Champion took the overall lead after competitive stage four before Rai surged ahead in the next but the Safari that was stripped of its World Rally Championship status in 2002 proved it had not lost its bone-breaking reputation.

Quentin Mitchell’s Skoda was forced out by a broken rear suspension while local hopeful Issa Amwari’s Evolution X retired with gear box problems in the early victims list.

Canadian Moez Mali ended his rally after hitting a Zebra, Karan Patel crashed into a bush and Tajveer Rai went out after brakes failure and damage the cooling system before news broke Chager, who was well within the top three had also bowed out.

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