Published by the government of Zimbabwe
Collin Matiza
4 November 2009
Harare — TOP Zimbabwean motor rally driver Jamie Whyte continued with his winning ways when he won the Tom Savory Memorial Rally in Monze, Zambia, at the weekend.
Fresh from winning the Beatrice Rally, which was staged here in Zimbabwe early last month, Whyte, the 2009 African driver of the year, drove to victory in the 11-stage event that attracted eight crews in Monze.
The Tom Savory Memorial Rally was the penultimate round of the 2009 Zim-Zam series, which is designed for top motor rally drivers from Zimbabwe and Zambia.
And the weekend's victory in Monze saw Whyte opening up an eight-point lead at the summit of the Zim-Zam Challenge.
According to reports from Zambia, Whyte's triumph was inevitable having led the 174.57 km-long rally from start to finish to eventually clock one hour nine minutes and 10 seconds, a time which was one minute and 11 seconds faster than Zambia's Mohammed Essa in second position.
Whyte was co-driven by compatriot and fellow African champion Phil Archenoul in a double African championship winning Subaru Impreza N10, while another Zimbabwean Greg Stead aided Essa in a Subaru N11.
Whyte and Archenoul are enjoying themselves on the road this year.
Apart from their recent success in Beatrice and Monze, they were at the end of August crowned as the top driver and navigator in Africa for 2009 after competing in the tough five-legged African Rally Championship.
This year's ARC series, took Whyte and Archenoul to Tanzania, Uganda, Kenya, Zambia and finally Zimbabwe.
They won the first leg of the series in Tanzania in February before settling for second place in the second leg in Kenya in April.
The third leg of the 2009 ARC series - the KCB Pearl of Africa Uganda Rally - was held in the East African country at the beginning of May.
And Whyte and Archenoul were forced to settle for third place in this event, which was stopped prematurely following the death of top Ugandan driver Riyaz Kurji.
Kurji was the leader of the Uganda Rally by three minutes on the second day of the event when he went off the road and struck a tree and was killed instantly.
Kurji, who was Uganda's top rally driver, was declared the winner of the KCB Pearl of Africa Uganda Rally, becoming the first posthumous winner of a round of the ARC series.
The organisers took the decision to stop the rally at competitive section following the death.
When tragedy struck the race, Whyte was lying in third place behind Kurji and Zambia's Muna Singh.
The first weekend of July saw the staging of the fourth and the penultimate round of the 2009 ARC series in Lusaka, Zambia, where Whyte was once again placed third as he moved closer to clinching the Drivers' title.
Whyte finally clinched the 2009 ARC Drivers' title on home soil during the fifth and last leg of the series -- the Toyota Zimbabwe Challenge -- which was staged in and around Harare during the weekend of August 28-30.
In the Toyota Zimbabwe Challenge Rally, Whyte came third ahead of his nearest rival for the ARC Drivers' title, Singh of Zambia, and that position was sufficient to give him the points needed to win the 2009 FIA African Rally Championship.
Whyte became only the third Zimbabwean to win the drivers' title of the championship after Abe Smit in 1995 and young Conrad Rautenbach in 2007.
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