Iringa — Kenya's Karan Patel was the fastest in the qualifying stage to stay on track for his maiden Africa Rally Championship title chase.

The series leader opened the Africa Rally Championship campaign strong, winning the qualifying stage 5.7 seconds ahead of fast chasing rival Jas Mangat of Uganda who qualified in 2nd place.

The fast and dusty stages of ASAS Farm in Iringa play host to today's stages of the ASAS Rally of Tanzania, the final round of the ARC.

Conditions are favorable for fast times, but with each of the 2 stages on the opening day being run thrice, drivers will ultimately need to keep their focus sharp as the surface gets looser and more rutted with each pass.

MOIL Rally Team's Yassin Nasser finished qualifying in 3rd place with Tanzania's Ahmed Huwel and Kenya's Hamza Anwar finishing 4th and 5th respectively

Karan and Tauseef showed no signs that they were rusty despite being back in the seats of their Ford Fiesta R5 for the first time since Rally Zambia, as it was shipped straight after to Dar-Es-Salaam awaiting the Iringa event.

Fans eagerly await to see what strategy the team will deploy, with the title race still too close to call.

Uganda's Jas Mangat will undoubtedly look to cause an upset, as he too seeks his maiden ARC title for which he needs to win this event, with Karan finishing outside the podium.

"Mentally I don't feel any pressure going into this race... but it would be nice to win this event overall and continue our winning streak," said Karan Patel speaking ahead of the opening days action.

He added, "90% of me wants to play it safe but 10% of me wants to push for the win and give the fans a good show. We would like to make the team that works hard for us all year round proud, but we will weigh our options and see how much risk we can take to maintain the event lead without jeopardizing our championship chances."

The first stage flags off at 12:08pm with Karan Patel and Tauseef Khan electing to be 3rd on road after qualifying.