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This year's rally has been met with concerns over the weather conditions and the state of the roads following recent heavy rains in the area and their impact on the road conditions.
The Pearl of Africa Rally is set to kick off this Friday in Jinja, Eastern Uganda, as the third round of the Africa Rally Championship and the second round of the National Rally Championship.
This year's rally has been met with concerns over the weather conditions and the state of the roads following recent heavy rains in the area and their impact on the road conditions.
The rainy conditions affected the running of the rally last year leading to the cancellation of stages, and this year, one of the favourites, Karan Patel from Kenya, withdrew from the race due to the poor road conditions of the competitive stages.
However, the Pearl Rally Clerk of Course (COC), Omar Mayanja, has assured the participants and fans that they have a plan in place to ensure a safe and exciting race.
"It has been raining every day and we have no control over the weather,” he shared with Kawowo Sports.
“We are trying to be as flexible as possible in order to have alternatives in case something happens. Ultimately, it’s about having a 100 percent closed road and the weather presents its challenges.”
“At the moment, we cannot tell whether it is going to be dry or not, but all indications show what it is likely to be,” he added.
Mayanja is in charge of the Pearl Rally for the first time, and he understands the weight of expectation on getting things right.
However, he assures everyone that the stages are really nice for drivers' liking, even with the wet conditions that they are facing.
"We are not intending on cancelling any stage because of the conditions unless it is an unfortunate condition, and when it is the only option like we have a pile-up of cars getting stuck in a stage," he explained.
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19:14 - 03.05.2023
MOTORSPORT Road conditions force Karan Patel to withdraw from Pearl Rally
Patel has made the difficult decision to withdraw from the Pearl Rally after conducting a recce of the event. He cited the poor road conditions, which he deemed to be below the standard expected for an international event, as the reason for his withdrawal.
“I am fresh into the job, and I cannot promise something unique for the crews. People are still blind to what it takes to organize such big events.”
“What I am sure of, is the stages are really nice for drivers’ liking. When I first spotted them, they were dry but now they will be wet and because of that, they will give drivers a different challenge.
“We have over 500 people working on this rally and working under FIA requirements,” he says.
Thirty crews are gearing up to take on the ultimate challenge in the upcoming rally, with only six of them now eligible to score the ARC points.
This year's edition will see fewer foreign crew entries than last year, with only one foreign crew remaining in contention - Rio Smith from Kenya after Patel’s withdrawal.
The Pearl Rally 2023 is set to present something unique as it will conclude with a Super Special Stage on Sunday.
Mayanja explains that they want to cover the required mileage when everyone is still fresh so that they don't waste people's time.
“We read the FIA report from last year. The first thing I did was to study and understand where the emphasis was as far as FIA is concerned and try to sort of bridge where we are weak and where FIA was interested,” he mentionrf.
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14:49 - 03.05.2023
MOTORSPORT Yasin Nasser: R5-power no guarantee for result
Nasser will be one of only two drivers competing behind an R5-powered car at the rally, but he suggests that the team's strategy will not be to go for broke in the chase for victory, though he insists they will not necessarily back down from the challenge.
“This year we have doubled the safety department. Each stage will be managed by a Deputy CoC and all these people can run a rally.”
“We intend to have spectators in one place on a day since stages will be repeated twice minimizing on the movements."
The rally will cover 12 stages over two days of action. Saturday's leg will be the longest of the rally covering 155 kilometres over eight competitive stages.
Sunday will cover four competitive stages including two passes over the Bujagali super special stage to bring the total competitive distance to 205.27 kilometres.
Patel's next rally is the Safari Rally Kenya that will run under the World Rally Championship, and he looks forward to taking on that event.
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