Ian Duncan snatched the overnight lead from Stig Blomqvist

Ian Duncan snatched the overnight lead from Stig Blomqvist of Sweden after winning two of the three stages at stake in Day 6 of the Kenya Airways East African Safari Classic Rally in Kajiado, Buls Eye and Olepolos yesterday.

Navigated by Amaar Slatch in a Ford Capri, Duncan catapulted to the top of the leaderboard from the day’s opening stage at Amboseli Fence and clung onto the lead to the very end at Lake Naivasha Sopa Lodge where the overnight halt will be based for the next two days.

Duncan was back in the groove with a 2.5minutes cushion over Blomqvist. The overnight lead has only exchanged hands between Blomqvist and Duncan since the start of the event on November 21.

Duncan set the quickest time of 69.26minutes in the 109km CS14 Bulls Eye stage, then shared the fastest stage time of 25minutes with South African Geoff Bell in the 48km CS15 run in Kajiado while Bell was the quickest again in the preceding 61km Olepolos stage.

Blomqvist’s second fastest time of 70.26minutes in CS14, precisely a minute behind Duncan, saw him trail the leader with a mere 10seconds but the gap widened as the rally wore on.

Duncan extended his lead to over a minute from Blomqvist after CS15.

Onkar Rai, who is sharing a Porsche 911 with 2013 Kenya Champion Baldev Bladev Chager who has since interchanged the driving seat with Onkar Rai, incurred a nine minutes road penalty for late check-in to Tuesday’s service at Ol Tukai Lodge. So unfortunately they are no longer in fourth place but the Horseys now seem to be in fifth place.

Chager and Rai won the last stage of Day 4 at Bulls Eye as cars finished the first half of the 4000km journey.

The first section running from Amboseli Fence to Kajiado was wet whilst the preceding two turned out to be dry and dusty.

Alastair Cavenagh and Carl Tundo had no problems with their Viking Ford Escort MK2 car other than going off in the day’s opening stage in Amboseli where they lost 10minutes in the wake.

“The first stage was a bit wet so we went off in exactly the same position we had encountered an off on Sunday. We have now decided we shall not be taking any unnecessary risks as the car is getting weary as we move on,” said Cavenagh.

Belgian Gregoire who set a number of stage wins on the Tanzanian side was happy with the wet conditions.

“It was so much fun in the first section which was wet. The second and third were dry so it was a challenge again adjusting to the conditions. The sections in the Safari are longer than what we experience in Europe where we do shorter stages up to 25km so you have to concentrate for a longer period,” said De Mevius.

Rally manager Ashok Bhalla said the next three days are anticipated to be wet and slippery which will be a repeat of the 2011 event.

“Soysambu is really wet as of now whilst the Suswa stage could be tricky if wet,” said Ashock.

News Source: allAfrica