Raaji Bharij, a former winner of the Rift 1000 Rally, will be navigated by Ravi Soni in this weekend’s Equator Rally. The crew will drive a Ford Escort MK2.
In the meantime, Asad Anwar will be accompanied by Shameer Yusuf in a Mitsubishi Lancer EvoX, while Piero Cannobio will be partnered by Marta de Paola from Italy at the wheels of a Hyundai 120.
The two-day round of the African Rally Championship will be held this weekend on the outskirts of Voi where most of the competitive stages will be based around the Taita Estate.
The Shakedown will be done on Friday where the crews will be given the chance to test their machines before the main rally kicks off the following day.
The venue for the Shakedown will be at the Mwatate Dam within Mwatate Estate.
Scrutineering for the rally cars and the official Reconnaissance of the route will be done on Thursday.
The total transport distance will be 421.08 kilometres, while the competitive distance will be 205.25 kilometres.
Leg One’s transport section will be 143.88 kilometres, while the competitive distance will be 159.66 kilometres.
The Leg Two transport distance will be 71.95 kilometres while the competitive distance will be 45.59 kilometres.
Two legs will be run over the two days of the competition, with the total number of Special Stages being 10.
The Rift Valley Motor Sports Club has decided not to run the Jim Heather-Hayes Memorial Rally.
The club has cited lack of sponsorship support to run the rally in remembrance of Jim Heather-Hayes who passed away last December.
Heather-Hayes is considered as one of the greatest legends in the sport of rallying.
He was a well-known rally driver and tackled several Safari Rally rounds and finished quite a number when the rally was considered one of the toughest rounds of the World Rally Championship.
Heather-Hayes also played a major role when the Safari Rally was known as the Coronation Rally.
He first tackled the first Coronation Safari Rally in 1953 in a Morris Minor.
He then tackled a few more events in cars such as the Mercedes Benz, Renault Fregate, BMW, Subaru Impreza, Toyota Celica Twincam Turbo and Nissan March.
He was very much respected and supported by the Manufacturer teams.
