Karan Patel stormed to a third straight Pearl of Africa Uganda Rally victory on Saturday, becoming only the second driver in history to claim three back-to-back wins of the championship after countryman Manvir Baryan.
Patel had his campaign effectively blown to life when longtime leader Samman Vohra blew a pro shaft.
Patel, with Tauseef Khan on the notes, won in Jinja in 2024 and in Mbarara in 2025 and 2026 to equal Baryan’s stellar run of 2017, 2018 and 2019.
The all-important win came after a late twist on Kaguta 3 stage, where Samman stopped with mechanical failure and lost time.
Samman, the ARC Junior Champion, had dominated the weekend.
“It was not to do with my speed. This was a mechanical and metal fatigue after series of steep corners. The car was undrivable and we had to break. Still I take pride, we tried our best we won almost most of the stages. This is one rally of a kind, we come back next year,” noted Samman.
Patel, whose own rally nearly unraveled on Friday when power steering issues dropped him time, clings to the top of the Africa Rally Championship log with 83 points after a weekend of survival with Samman ascending to second with 66 and Aakif dipping to third with 60.
Reigning African Rally Champion Yasin Nasser and home favourite came third overall followed by Aakif Virani and Jasmeet Chana.
Nasser also brushed off the pressure tal on him to defend the continental title.
“There is no pressure, we come to rally to enjoy, have fun and compete at the end for some points. We have no pressure,” Nasser noted.
Federation of motorsport clubs of Uganda (FMU) president Jimmy Akena was grateful for the successful organisation and looks forward to a bigger one next season.
