Zambian eyes Dar Puma rally

Lusaka. African champion Mohammed Essa says he is ready for next week’s Puma Tanzania rally.

Over 20 drivers have so far confirmed participation in the Tanzania rally, among them, local driver Jassy Singh who is also competing on the ARC, and Rwanda’s Davite Diancarlo currently leading the ARC with 33 points.

Also in the list are Jas Mangat of Uganda, who is sixth on the log with 15 points, Fitidis Christakis (also from Uganda) and Jaspreet Chatthe of Kenya.

After a poor start to the ARC 2013 season, Essa bounced back to retain his Puma Energy Zambia International Rally title with a resounding six minutes 47 seconds win to have 25 points. He is ranked third on the ARC.

The 24-year-old driver, who experienced a broken drive shaft on his Subaru Impreza N2010 R 4 during the Puma rally, said yesterday that his car was now in mint condition and was ready for the Tanzania race.

“The car has been worked on. It was breaking but yesterday we took it for testing and it sounded perfect,” he said.

He said his aim was to narrow the gap between him and log leader Diancarlo.

“I can’t catch up with Diancarlo or over take him in this rally even if I win it, because he already has 33 and would go further than 50 points in this rally,” he said.

“But my aim is to narrow the gap so that I can overtake him when we go for the Kenya rally.”

Essa is expected to travel to Tanzania next Wednesday while his crew will leave earlier on Monday.

The Puma Tanzania rally, the fourth in the FIA African Rally Championship series, is set for June 14-16.