Chatthe, who also leads the FIA Africa Rally Championship (ARC) after winning Rally of Rwanda the previous weekend, appeared to back off in Machakos to safeguard his championship aspirations.
Regardless of what Chatthe does in the remaining two rallies, all he needs is a top-8 finish in Nakuru Rally to take the crown. If not, he will need to go to Guru Nanak Rally to clinch it on home-stretch.
Chatthe needs 4.5 points to seal the title. Eighth place in a KNRC event awards six points but ninth will give him four points, which will not be enough to secure his much awaited title success. Chatthe maintains the lead of the championship with 128.5 pts while Tapio jumped from sixth to second place with 83 points after winning Machakos. Chager has dropped to third spot on 81.
“We are very happy today (Saturday) to win both the 2WD and Division 2 categories. To be very honest, the Division 2 success has come as a pleasant surprise to us–a bonus in this case. We have also won the 2WD stage prize as well as the best Club performer cash prize. It is a very hilarious moment. We thank the almighty and all those who have made it possible– the organisers as well as our support team and the amazing cheering squad–it hasn’t sunk in yet,” said Bengi.
Kirit Rajput won the SPV Class, giving his factory prepared Lexus ‘Beast’ its maiden finish on Kenyan soil. “Glad to have brought the ‘Beast’ back to the finish…the plan was to get to the end and gain long lost rally miles. Car is handling a lot better but still needs fine tuning and setup and we hope to get faster. The car is not easy to drive especially trying to slow it down on high speeds is scary but we hope to improve as time goes by,” said Kirit.
“Happy to finish 18th overall and most importantly, coming second in 2WD class. We keep the pressure up on the championship with two rounds to go and take the fight to the wire!! Big thank you to my sponsors Sportpesa,” said Leonardo.