Tundo family, Amwari fightback to spice Kisumu Rally

A spectacular show is expected at Saturday’s KCB Kisumu Rally when top local drivers take on championship leader and ‘Flying Finn’ Tapio Laukannen at an event where veteran Carl ‘Flash’ Tundo will be racing against his dad Frank and sister Natasha in the family battle for honours.

Natasha will be at the wheel of a Subaru Impreza N10 with Chantal Young in the only female crew competing at the third Kenya National Rally Championships (KNRC) round of the season and she is out to finish the wet and slippery rally.

“In Kisumu I expect to finish top 20,and at the same time have a safe run, because the rally schedule is quiet tight,” she added.

Another driver hoping to make an impact in Kisumu is Team Menengai’s Issa Amwari after his first ride in the championship with his new Mitsubishi Evo XR4 at the last leg in Kajiado ended after only 5km as he bombed out of the rally.

With a charged group of fans from his native Meru making the exodus to the lakeside city, Amwari who will be navigated by Edward Njoroge is out to make amends -weather notwithstanding- after leaving his supporters disappointed.

“I’m ready for the rally and am not afraid of the rain. Reason being have been performing well in wet rallies and I’m hopeful of a top performance,” he charged.

Amwari’s fans began descending into Kisumu on Thursday complete with branded ‘Team Issa’ gear of t-shirts, hoodies and slacks in what will be an entertaining side-show to the rally.

Osman Abdullahi will make his KNRC debut in Kisumu behind the cockpit of another Subaru Impreza N10 navigated by Evans Mwenda.

“I hope to learn a lot and our budget is very tight since we do not have many sponsors,” Abdullahi underscored.

 

Kisumu Rally has attracted 29 entries with 50 percent of the rally set to be held in closed roads inside sugarcane farms with no other vehicles and animals allowed inside the stages.

The first and fifth stages will be a 19.41km stretch around Chemelil with stages two and four in the Kabonyo-Mberere Sector of 47.34km being the true test of man versus machine or in the case of Natasha, woman versus machine. Stage three known as Simba, will be  the shortest at just 8.64Km.

Baldev “Boldy” Chager, the 2014 champion will be the first off the ramp navigated by Ravi Soni in a Mitsubishi Lancer Evo X. The three-time KNRC, champion will be followed by six-time winner; Ian Duncan also in a Mitsubishi Lancer Evo X.

Rajbir Rai in a Ford Fiesta R5, KNRC champion and Kisumu based Jassi Chatthe in a Evo X and series leader; Tapio Laukkanen round the top five starters.

Eric Bengi will be the top seed in the 2WD category, starting 19th overall.

KISUMU RALLY ENTRY LIST

TOT DIST: 238.14km
COMP DIST: 142.14km (59.68% – 5 Stages – all gravel)
Start List
1. #3 Baldev Singh Chager – Ravi Soni (Mitsubishi Evo10)
2. #4 Ian Duncan – Amaar Slatch (Mitsubishi Evo 10)
3. #6 Rajbir Rai – Greg Stead (Ford Fiesta)
4. #1 Jaspreet Jassi Chatthe – Gurdeep Gugu Panesar (Mitsubishi Evolution 10)
5. #2 Tapio Laukkanen – Pasi Pasi Törmä (Subaru Impreza GVB13)
6. #9 Manvir Baryan – Drew Sturrock (Ford Fiesta)
7. #5 Carl Flash Tundo – Tim Jessop (Subaru Impreza)
8. #10 Karan K Patel – Tauseef Khan (Mitsubishi Evolution 10)
9. #11 Onkar Singh Rai – Gareth Dawe (Mitsubishi Evolution 10)
10. #15 Tejveer Singh Rai – Zahir Shah (Mitsubishi Evolution 10)
11. #17 Piero Canobbio – Silvia Frigo (Mitsubishi Evolution 10)
12. #18 Izhar Mirza – Kavit Dave (Mitsubishi Evolution 9)
13. #19 Frank Tundo – Raju Chaggar (Mitsubishi Evolution 9)
14. #23 Farhaaz Khan – Keith Henrie (Mitsubishi Evolution 9)
15. #96 Issa Amwari – Edward Njoroge (Mitsubishi Evolution 10)
16. #20 Jasmeet Chana – Ravinder Chana-Toyota Celica GT4)
17. #29 Jansher Sandhu – Feisal Khan (Mitsubishi Evolution 9)
18. #32 Mahesh Halai – Ketan Halai (Subaru Impreza N12)
19. #37 Eric Bengi – Tuta Mionki (Toyota Runx)
20. #52 Chandrakant Devji – Julius Mwachuya (Subaru Impreza GC8)
21. #53 Sammy Nyorri – Mwangi Waithaka (Toyota Runx)
22. #54 Leonardo Varese – Kigondu Kareithi (Toyota Corolla)
23. #57 Natasha Tash Tundo – Chantal Louise Young (Subaru ImprezaN10)
24. #65 Jitendra Dhokia – Saima Khan (Subaru Impreza N10)
25. #60 Alex Lairang’i – Anthony Tony Gichohi (Toyota Sprinter)
26. #67 Nikhil Sachania – Salim Khan (Fiat Abarth Punto)
27. #76 Edward Maina – Steve Mbuthia (Subaru Impreza GC8)
28. #121 Josiah Kariuki – Anthony Njenga (Subaru Impreza N11)
29. #118 Osman Abdullahi – Evans Mwenda (Subaru Impreza 10)

Tags:

Kenya National Rally Championship Issa Amwari Frank Tundo Carl Tundo KCB Kisumu Rally Natasha Tundo

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