Rally’s wunderkind Rajiv Ruparelia, yet again showed his rivals what he is made of, with a comfortable lead on Day One of this weekend’s MOSAC Rally- the last event on the National Rally Championship and the title decider.
He beat Yassin Nasser (415) points and Arthur Blick Jnr (385) who are the two top contenders for the title. Himself, he is not in the race to win this year’s title, having started late.
However, his fast and furious performance spiced by hairpinning moves have clearly set him apart as the crowd’s favourite and a force to reckon with, come next season.
Since Rajiv surfaced on the rallying scene at the May 26th Enduro 4×4 Challenge Championship, this year- it has been win-after-win. And it was not any different in today’s Day 1 of today’s MOSAC Rally. According to the official results, Rajiv posted an impressive 0:16:12:00- a whole 0:01:13:00 ahead of Omar Mayanja/Hussein Mukuye (Mitsubishi Evo X; 0:17:25:00) his closest rival.
Rajiv in his purpose-built Polish-built Polo WRC Proto Car, was also a comfortable 0:01:15:00 ahead of Yassin/Nasser/Ali Katumba in a Subaru Impreza who came third, posting 0:17:27:00.
Ronald Sebuguzi/Leon Ssenyange in a Mitsubishi Evo X, posted 0:17:40:04 to notch the 4th position- 0:01:28:04 behind Rajiv.
Arthur Blick/George Ssemakula in the fifth position, also in a Mitsubishi Evo X, posted 0:18:16:01- a whole 0:02:04:01 behind Rajiv.
In total 27 drivers finished Day 1 of the race. Day 2 of the rally starts tomorrow. In total, there will be 161.75km (competitive) and 126.30km (liaison).
Other races in which Rajiv has come on top include the October 26th, 2019 fifth round of the autocross/Enduro championship held in Kalangala.
On October 20th, Rajiv again won the third stage of Total-sponsored 2019 Kabalega Rally, National Rally Championship in Hoima, beating 39 competitors who took part in the race.
Some of the stars who fell under Rajiv’s accelerator pedal, include Yassin Nassser, Arthur Blick, Ronald Sebuguzi and Duncan Mubiru.
He also won both the Federation of Motorsport Clubs of Uganda (FMU) Autocross championship in Kayunga in June and the MOSAC Autocross Championship in Kapeeka, in August this year.