Changes and unexpected drama dominated the first day of the rally starting with a late night bulletin cancelling the third leg – section CS3 due to route deterioration and a submerged bridge.
This did little to diminish the action on the two remaining legs. An early dampness on the road quickly dried off in the sun on Stage One and there was some changes in car order through the section with Geoff Bell moving up from his seventh place start to the lead in his Datsun 260Z.
Second seeded Stig Blomqvist dropped to fifth place at the end of the first section in his Porsche 911, while other Porsches no 6 Richard Goransson and 10th starter Alistair Cavanagh took second and third place, with completion times of just over 30 minutes. Worth mention was car 46, the Ford Escort Mk 1 of Wissanji/Verjee who started last, but made their way to 11th place by the end of the first Stage.
Not all went smoothly however. Roger Samuelsson in car no 18, an orange Porsche 911 was the first to head off-road, rolling his vehicle, early into Stage One. His car, while damaged, has been judged fit to return to rally once repaired, although he has not made a decision as yet as to what to do.
Less fortunate was car no 11, the Ford Escort of John Lloyd and Adrian Cavanagh who also rolled in Stage Two, cracking the oil tank, which meant they were not able to restart their Ford and had to abandon the rally. Car no 4 Gerard Marcy and Eric Gressens in their Porsche 911 also exited after their car rolled in the second stage, and await decision as to whether they can continue.
In further second stage incidents, Stage One leader Geoff Bell’s Datsun suffered mechanical failure. Borrowing a fire extinguisher from Car 21 (Bharij and Sehmi), they worked to extinguish the fire, but were unable to get themselves back into the rally. Car no 29, the Datsun 240Z driven by Nick Mason didn’t complete following an incident early into the stage. He has yet to decide if he will continue.
For the cars that remained, the Second Stage proved to be tremendously tough, with many vehicles getting trapped in the 800-meter long section of road that turned into a mud bath. High water levels meant that by the time later rally cars came through the area, the water was almost windscreen high. Enterprising locals gathered at the spot to push out stuck cars, along with the rally tow truck, but a jam developed with numerous cars suffering some sort of mechanical issue as a result of the water. Frank Tundo in his Triumph, covered his car with a sort of waterproofing cloth but also stalled. Jorge Perez Companc had a floating piece of wood caught in his wheel but was able to get through the water. Others were less fortunate and had to turn back.
In all, 32 cars completed the day, out of the 50 that started this morning. Leader by the end of Stage Two was Kenya’s Alistair Cavanagh with a time of 1 hour 36 minutes, followed by Stig Blomqvist who recovered in the second section to end up in second place, with Richard Goransson in third, ensuring that the Porsche 911’s dominated the leader board.