Manvir and Drew Sturrock Eye Maiden Kenya National Rally Championship Title

Newsroom Aug 19 3 min read

This archive report was first published on 19 August 2019.

Manvir Baryan and Drew Sturrock, reigning three-time African champions, are intensifying their pursuit of the Kenya National Rally Championship title after their second career win at the KCB Kilifi Rally on August 18, 2019.

Skoda's potential has convinced the duo, who led the Mombasa Motor Club (MMC) organized round from start to finish.

Manvir's Skoda Fabia R5, nicknamed the 'rat,' dominated the competition, outpacing Onkar Rai's VW Polo R5, which made its debut in Kenya.

British navigator Drew Sturrock emphasized MRT Racing's commitment to securing KNRC points.

"We have never won the KNRC title, so this year we want to achieve a big dream. Of course, we want to achieve victory in every round that we do and at the end of the season take the main trophy," Sturrock said.

Manvir's second victory in the Mombasa Motor Club (MMC) round propelled him and Sturrock to second position on the KNRC log, displacing Carl 'Flash' Tundo and Tim Jessop from the second spot.

Tundo and Jessop skipped the Kilifi tour due to pressing commitments.

After four rounds of impressive displays, Baldev Chager became the first driver to accumulate over 100 points and vowed to continue pushing.

Chager consolidated his lead on the log with 102 points, while Manvir moved to second with 73 points, two better than Tundo.

Chager expressed his intention to solidify his lead at the KCB Nanyuki Rally, scheduled to take place in two weeks' time.

"Like every rally, we want to do our best and gain maximum points. So in Nanyuki, that's our plan. It was a very tough rally but very enjoyable stages. There was traffic, but well-controlled. We tried to push and keep up with the Skoda, so we beat Manvir on CS3, and he beat us again on CS4 with three seconds. In the long 46km stage at Bamba, we were pushing extra hard, then went off and got stuck for several minutes," Chager said.

Onkar Rai's exit from the rally was a bitter pill to swallow, as his VW Polo R5 ran out of fuel during the repeat run of the 21km night stage.

"The Polo is running really well with no teething problems, just that we ran out of fuel in the early morning repeat run and had to kiss the event goodbye," Onkar said.

Onkar returned to the route to open the third and last run of the Mombasa Cement stage but his Polo was 16 seconds slower than Manvir's Skoda.

Kenya National Rally Championship Standings after KCB Killifi Rally