Dar rally driver Pandya leads in race for national championship

Dar es Salaam. Dar es Salaam Region is 90 per cent sure of bringing back the national driving title from Arusha and its driver Dharam Pandya is leading the onslaught.

Following his brave showing in the just ended Nuran Motor Rally, young Pandya stands too close to the championship after the end of the sixth round of the National Rally Championship (NRC). Having notched 90 points so far, the Puma Energy/Castrol Oil- backed driver commands a comfortable 14-point lead in the chase for the prestigious national driving title.

His only threat, Jamil Khan, who finished second overall, is placed second with 76 points, while Randeep Birdi, also from Dar es Salaam sits third with 65 points with two more races to go.

“It was one of the best and most challenging rallies of this year and my second victory in the newly imported Mitsubishi Evo 9. I beat my rival Khan with only 11 seconds. Now I can say the victory has rekindled my dream of winning this year’s national championship,” he said.

Pandya, who drives Mitsubishi Evo 9, now need just to finish in the top five in two remaining event to once again claim this year’s title. He was the national champion in 2011 taking the crown from his father, Kirit Pandya who won it in 2010.

Pandya thanked his sponsors Puma Energy, Castrol Oil and his experienced navigator, Sanjeev Pandya for their moral and material supports.

The seventh and penultimate round of this season, is the Guru Nanak Rally and would be held in Arusha in October before the final round takes place in Morogoro in November.

Until the end of the sixth round, Pandya is the only driver to win two races, the first being the Zig Zag Rally held in Tanga in May this year before he proved his driving prowess at the Nuran Motor Rally over the weekend.

Arusha’s Gurpal Sandhu won the first round, Randeep Birdi won the second, Gerard Miller won the third one, Pandya won the fourth one, Jamil Khan won the fifth round in Bagamoyo before Pandya took the title again last weekend.

Pandya, who won the championship in 2011 in outdated Subaru Impreza N4, hopes to be the first driver to win the 2015 season using a different car, Mitsubishi Evo 9 in less than five years span.

For over three decades now, the national championship has been a Dar es Salaam-Arusha affair. Collins Higgins from Morogoro and Ahmed Huwel from Iringa, are the only drivers who have disrupted the Arusha- Dar dominion in 2004 and 2007 respectively.

Navraj Hans, Amarjeet Dhillon and veteran Gerard Miller are other drivers from Arusha who have won the championship since the late 2000s while Randeet Birdi, Kirit Pandya and Dharam Pandya brought the championship to Dar es Salaam.

Others who won the championship since early 1990s, were Arif Zaman, Kishore Shapriya, Satinder Birdi, Frenchman Stephano Dupont, Davinder Sahota Pagal, Saleh Blhabou and Omar Bakhresa.

Alongside the chase for the best driver’s crown, there is also a stiff chase for car manufactures, and this time, like a situation in the past ten years, it is between Mitusbishi Evos and Subaru Impreza. Until the end of the sixth round Mitsubishi looks slight ahead of Subaru in general performance,

At the top five Mitsubishi is number one with 90 points followed by Subaru N12 with 76 points while Mitsubishi comes third with 65 points.

Kilimanjaro’s Gurjit Dhani, who is fourth placed in the seeding points after posting 62 points, is the second Subaru driver in the top five.

But the going has been tough for Arusha-based driver Gurpal Sandhu, who is the also the defending champion. The 2014 best driver, has so far carded 38 points despite driving the latest version of Mitsubishi Evo X.

Commenting on the situation, the President of the Automobile Association of Tanzania(AAT), Nizar Jivani says he is impressed with the country’s overall performance in motorsports.

“Tanzania has made a sky-leap in rallying from Group S cars such as Landrovers and Ranger Rovers of the early 2000s to ultramodern Subaru Imprezas and Mitsubishi Evos. Previously we used cars that couldn’t compete in the international events such as African Rally Championship or KCB Safari Rally,” he said.

Citing an example, Jivani, the East African Safari Rally legend, said Gerald Miller’s victory over Africa’s top drivers in during the Tanzanian round of African Rally Championship (ARC) is among the notable achievements.