Mission accomplished: Andrea Navarra arrived in Kenya with the aim of scoring precious points and came away leading the drivers’ championship of the Intercontinental Rally Challenge, the international series of nine rallies in Europe, Asia and Africa. This has also marked a return to glory for Abarth, achieved in the first competition entered by the new marque after its presentation on March 7 at the Geneva Motor Show.
While this is a great achievement for both the team and the driver – now at the head of the drivers’ championship – Navarra cannot hide his disappointment for narrowly missing an outright win. “Of course” says the Cesena born driver, “winning the Safari with the Grande Punto Abarth first time around would have been an epic achievement.” Indeed, Navarra had believed that a coup on the dirt tracks of the world’s most legendary rally was truly within reach. Much more so than he admitted at the end of the first leg, when he took the lead. “Effectively” he explains, “it was impossible not to hope that we could do it. Even though the road surface is completely different than in other rallies, the Grande Punto Abarth proved to be extremely capable, and kilometre after kilometre, my feel for the African roads progressively improved.” Putting a spanner in the works was a puncture on the fourteenth of the nineteen special stages. “When Guido D’Amore and I realised that one of the rear tyres was going flat, we decided not to stop to change the wheel, and the clock proved that we were right, as we only lost a couple of minutes over the remainder of the leg. Not that much in absolute terms, but enough to let Conrad Rautenbach – who isn’t registered in the series and therefore doesn’t appear in the rankings – to slip past us and win.” While this was a disappointment for both members of Abarth’s top team in Africa, there was more than ample consolation to be had in the fact that they had hung on to the lead in the official drivers’ championship. In the overall standings for the Intercontinental Rally Challenge, Navarra now leads the Japanese Miyoshi and the Kenyan Anwar, both driving Mitsubishi Lancers.
The next event in the Intercontinental Rally Challenge is the Rally of Turkey, which will be held in Istanbul on May 11 and 12.
Final standings of the 55th Safari Rally
1. Rautenbach-Marsch (Subaru Impreza) 2 hours 30 min. 43 sec.; 2. Tundo-Jessop (Subaru Impreza) +2 min. 11sec.; 3. Navarra-D’Amore (Fiat Punto) +3 min. 21 sec.; 4. Miyoshi-Ichino (Mitsubishi Lancer) +9 min. 20 sec.; 5. Sinh-Shoka (Subaru Impreza) +12 min. 08 sec.; 6. Chager-Yussuf (Subaru Impreza) +14 min. 00 sec.; 7. Anwar-Pattel (Mitsubishi Lancer) +14 min. 9 sec.; 8. Aslam-Sidi (Mitsubishi Lancer) +14 min. 47 sec.; 9. Emontspool-Daubie (Subaru Impreza) +19 min. 03 sec.; 10. Shan-Kana (Subaru Impreza) +25 min. 38 sec.
Standings, Intercontinental Rally Challenge Drivers’ Championship
1. Andrea Navarra (Grande Punto Abarth) 10 points; 2. Hideaki Miyoshi (Mitsubishi Lancer) 8; 3. Asad Anwar (Mitsubishi Lancer) 6; 4. Sammy Aslam (Mitsubishi Lancer) 5.
International
