Published by the government of Zimbabwe
Collin Matiza
8 September 2008
Harare — Four of Zimbabwe's top motor rally drivers - Jamie Whyte, Craig Green, Richard Robinson and Sherwin Evans - are once again set to carry the country's flag at the Zambia International Rally in Lusaka this coming weekend.
The Zambia International Rally is the closing round of this year's FIA-African Rally Championship series, which started with the hosting of the Tanzania Rally in Dar es Salaam in the East African country in February.
It (the Zambia International Rally) is also part of the Zim-Zam series, which features the top motor rally drivers from Zimbabwe and Zambia.
And all is now set for this exciting event in Lusaka where Whyte, Green, Robinson and Evans will be battling it out for major honours with some of the continent and world's top motor rally drivers in the three-day race which starts this Friday and ends on Sunday.
In Lusaka, Whyte will be co-driven by veteran Phil Archenoul, Green will have Mike Exton by his side while Evans will have Clint Ashwood as his navigator.
Of these Zimbabwean drivers, the man who is really looking forward to this event is Whyte who is the country's sole entry in this year's ARC series.
The rest of the Zimbabwean drivers --- Green, Robinson and Evans --- are not part of this year's ARC series but are scheduled to travel to Lusaka tomorrow with Whyte to represent the country in the Zim-Zam competition.
Evans will be making his debut appearance on Zambian soil.
But much of the attention will fall on Whyte and his co-driver Archenoul who will be flying the country's flag in the sixth and final leg of the ARC series.
Whyte has a mountain to climb at this weekend's event in Lusaka where he will be out to close the gap on the series leaders Hideaki Miyoshi and his navigator Hakaru Ichino of Japan.
He also has an unenviable task of trying to bring the ARC title back to Zimbabwe for the second year running after young Conrad Rautenbach's historic victory during last year's series.
This year's ARC series is currently being led by Miyoshi and Ichino while Zambians Muna Singh and David Sihoka are lying second with seven points separating them from the Japanese leaders while Whyte and Archenoul are a further eight points off the pace in third position.
So, Whyte, assisted by Archenoul, has a load of work to do if he is to emulate Rautenbach at this weekend's event where the winners of this season's FIA-ARC drivers and navigators' contest as well as the victor of the inaugural "Pirelli Star Driver" Africa competition will be decided during the Zambia International Rally.
Four points separate the top three in the Pirelli race that has Kenyan Peter Horsey as leader followed by Jon Williams of South Africa and Alfir Khan, also of Kenya.
The winner of newly introduced Pirelli Rally Star promo earns a scholarship to participate in six European-based rounds of the FIA World Rally Championship series with either an S-2000 or Group N formulas provided by a manufacturer in Europe under the FIA.
But it is the main and final race of this year's ARC series where much of the spotlight will fall on and it will be interesting to see how Whyte will perform after his failure to complete the penultimate event of the championship -- the Zimbabwe Challenge Rally -- which was held here last month.
During the Zimbabwe Challenge Rally Japan's Miyoshi wrestled the top spot from Whyte after the Zimbabwean retired on day two with a bent rear suspension control arm when he went off and hit a tree from the sideways of his Subaru.
And Whyte will be out to gain some measure of revenge over Miyoshi but the Japanese driver and his co-driver Ichino are reported to be raring to go in Lusaka.
Miyoshi and Ichino are taking part in the ARC this year as a significant show of confidence in the continental ARC championship.
They were the first Japanese participants to have been in a Zimbabwe Challenge since the event was first run in 1962 and their win in Zimbabwe was further confirmation of the event's status as a popular one for international teams.
Eleven foreign crews representing Japan, Kenya, South Africa and Zimbabwe have already confirmed their participation in the Zambia International Rally.
This weekend's event has already received some massive sponsorship from the corporate world in Zambia with vehicle manufacturers Toyota Zambia and oil company Total Zambia pouring more than US$20 000 for the race.
The Zambia International Rally first received a financial boost two weeks ago when Toyota Zambia donated US$12 000 towards the hosting of this FIA-ARC final round event.
The US$12 000 will cover both financial and material support to the rally.
Toyota will also provide three top-of-the-range showroom vehicles to be used as zero, double zero and triple zero cars during the rally.
The zero car, a plush US$160 000 worth Toyota Land Cruiser 4.5 litre turbo diesel V8 machine, was on display at the company's showroom when the firm revealed its sponsorship for the rally.
The other two are set to be unveiled on Wednesday at Lusaka's Holiday Inn, the venue that has been the Rally Headquarters since 2004.
Not to be outdone by Toyota Zambia were Total Zambia who donated K30 million (approximately US$8 600) to the organising committee of this weekend's Zambia International Rally. And Total Zambia has partly facilitated the passage for South African sisters-in-law, Lola and Megan Verlaque, collectively known as the "Rally Chicks", to participate in this three-day rally that has drawn a record 11 foreign entries.
The rally will start on Friday with a ceremonial start from Holiday Inn in the afternoon followed by a spectator stage at the Lusaka Motor Club in the Showgrounds.
Competitive stages on the subsequent two days, the rally proper, will be run on the farmlands located on the outskirts of Lusaka.
Be the first to Write a Comment!
Copyright © 2008 The Herald. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com). To contact the copyright holder directly for corrections — or for permission to republish or make other authorized use of this material, click here.
AllAfrica aggregates and indexes content from over 125 African news organizations, plus more than 200 other sources, who are responsible for their own reporting and views. Articles and commentaries that identify allAfrica.com as the publisher are produced or commissioned by AllAfrica.
