Toyota what?? Etios makes global statement

This weekend a car that's never before been seen by even diehard rally fans in the  northern hemisphere hit the stages of the world  and the african continental championships, raised eyebrows and won hearts. The little Toyota Etios, hitherto in R2 spec has been dominating the South African national championship with Guy Botteril at the wheel. The pocket rocket is a very good car and South Africa has the best drivers on the continent but in the last two years no combination of driver and car had been able to subordinate the Skoda Fabia R5 in the hands of two time and defending African champion Manvir Baryan.



South Africans have however been developing a more potent spec of the Etios to compete on the regional stage but probably not on the world stage. To this end Rally Technic, put together an R4 spec Etios using the FIA homologated  kit that's supplied by Oreca.  The car remains small, a little bigger than the R2 but not as menacing and aggressive as the R5. It also costs less than half the price of any European R5.



To give the Etios R4 it's African intro, Rally Technic called on the services of long time South African champion and works VW driver Hergen Fekken to drive it in the second round of the 2019 African rally championship, the rally of South Africa. By the time day one and 8 stages was done, the Etios had won 8 stages and led the rally by 44s. On day two between a combination of taking it easy on the part of Fekken and suspension problems on one hand, and on the other a big push from the R5 drivers, Baryan and Gomes in a Fiesta, each notched up a stage win with Fekken winning the other two to seal the rally victory with 38s over the defending champions and surprise surprise Guy Botteril in the R2 Etios sealing the podium.



On the other side of the Southern Hemisphere global fans were bedazzled by a strange looking Toyota Etios R5 driven by Alejandro Galanti and running in 11th overall from saturday morning at Xion WRC rally Argentina. On the skin of it, The Etios R5 looks very much like the R4 that won africa on the same weekend.  The car  received plenty live tv coverage by the wrc broadcaster all the way into the power stage which is usually the reserve of world championship contenders. The Etios R5 doesn't have global homologation and only run in the national championship category of rally Argentina which it won by a mile as well as the overall trophy for 11th but no world championship points.

Cars developed in the Southern Hemisphere tend to be cheaper but less popular than those born and bred in Europe and many never make international homologation.  Besides the financial costs of homologation there may be other reasons like lack of support from the  manufacturer who may be pushing a different brand - and in this case Toyota has already nominated the Yaris as its current flag bearer and may not support the Etios Which is not marketed in the northern hemisphere. However, following the global attention garnered this weekend, one can always hope. But whether or not international homologation comes, regional and national championships have a very interesting proposition from arguably the most affordable and reliable and now exciting car brand in the world.  Better still a formula spec that's  perhaps not based on the still expensive for Africa Oreca kit To drive ARC regional car prices back down into the range of Group N and drive entries up to where they were in the first decade of the millennium.

Neuville wins Rally Argentina but you gotta love Ogier

Coming into the final day of rally Argentina with 48s in hand, only a cruel mechanical curse could deny Hyundai driver Thiery Neuville the win in Argentina this weekend. Belgium’s finest driver put on a cautious but focused performance to win the rally ahead of team mate and best mate Andreas Mikkelsen by 40s.  Today's victory coming on the Back of another victory in Corsica sees the korean squad driver extend his personal as well as hyundai’s lead in the championship.

Third Hyundai driver Dani Sordo finished 6th but his push in the Wolf power stage that played out on the summit of El Condor netted 4th and denied Ott Tanak more bonus points to drop this year’s championship favourites further away from the top of the provisional standings.  Tanak led the rally on Friday before he was beset by mechanical problems and a spin that dropped him to third and then on Saturday retired with electrical failure.  The toyota driver dropped out of the points scoring positions however fought back to finish 8th and score a paltry 3 points including 1 from the power stage.

Toyota whose car demonstrates clear superiority over the others won a lot of stages between their 3 drivers however, Kris Meeke and Jari Mati Latvala could only manage 4th and 5th respectively to leave the Japanese squad second in the manufacturers race. Latvala celebrated 200 WRC starts this weekend and his experience showed in El Condor. However it was not quite enough to win him the power stage.

That honour went to the defending and 6 time world champion Sebastian Ogier who rose out of a stormy week that saw him lose power steering and a provisional podium to drop into 8th on Saturday morning.  The Citroen driver fought back and following Tanak’s retirement finished Saturday in 4th behind Meeke and then went up provisionally when Meeke was penalised 10s for a deviation. Meeke won the first two of three stages on Sunday to regain 3rd and  establish a 5.2s gap before the power stage.  With odds stacked against the champion, he ascended El Condor and by the time he got to the top, he had won the stage, 5 bonus points and taken 3rd place overall to bring his total overhaul from what was a bad weekend to 20.



It seems even if u deal him a bad car and then break it into half, he would still be in the money.  You gotta love this man. Ogier moved to Ford M-Sport when VW pulled out of the championship and everyone thought it will be tough for him to win again. The Ford Fiesta turned out to be a decent enough car despite poor support from Ford of America.  He won two drivers titles and one manufacturer title in two years. The fiesta remains a decent car in the hands of Elfyn Evans who dominated Corsica but then crashed terminally on Saturday in Argentina. Evans team mate the  youthful Teemu Suninen finished 7th this weekend. More decent than the C3 that Ogier has won two rallies with this year already and is just 10 points off the top of the standings.

In two weeks The championship goes to Chile for the first time ever.

Death has robbed us of Edwin Kalule, 39 – 2018 Rally Champion 2WD class

 

Edwin was a young up and coming driver who had already made his mark on the Uganda rally scene. He was humble, calm and collected but also cheeky and ambitious as his aliases would suggest: Eddie Jobless, Jobless Millionaire, Eddie the Bomber.  

He was also charming and stylish, qualities he used to further his entrepreneurship in the home décor business.  His Toyota Celica was also one of the better decorated cars in the championship.  In 2016, he took his time to learn the ropes of competition, then raised the pace in 2017 which resulted in a disproportionate number of failed finishes but that did not wipe the smile off his face. 

But while he smiled a lot and possessed a humble demeanor, he was a fierce competitor who was in it to win it. This is exactly what he did with 5 class victories in the 2018 season which culminated in him being crowned champion at the end of the year.  The next challenge for him was the big one, the main National championship for which he had taken a break to regroup, acquire a new car and give it his best next year or perhaps sooner.  That cannot happen now however, Edwin you’re not in our debt.  

We thank God for giving you to us, for enabling you to achieve and succeed in the little time that he afforded you, but most of all, for the decency, love and passion that you espoused and the positive legacy that you leave behind. Rest in power bro.

Part Four – 2019 SMC Masaka Rally Fight to the death…. Kikankane fans in heart wrenching scare…Mafu Mafu wins it again

Previously on Blow by Blow “…Jas mangat .. leapt two places to take Hassan Alwi Jr’s 4^th position.  Similarly Omar Mayanja had posted a 4^th fastest time and gained two positions into 6^th, pushing Kepher and Fitidis down into 7^th and 8^th respectively.  More interestingly, Omar was now just 1.6s from taking Hassan’s place “

The repeat of General Kayanja stage was up next.  Remember this is where fortunes are made and fallen heroes interred.  The first pass had condemned a podium contender to the bottom of the top ten, it was time to reveal the bounties of the second run.  Susan Muwonge had had a bad day in the office, not the first since the beginning of the season, but this was shaping out worse than any before it.  When mechanics can’t find fault with a non-performing rally car, you drive it regardless, you drive the wheels off to make the time. 

In an attempt to just go harder in pursuit of better time, at a particularly iconic rock slab, one of the features that define this stage, the reigning champion’s Subaru tail was kicked up, landed offside and slid on the slippery rock face, careering off the road and into the scenery.  2018 2WD champion Edwin Kalule who is taking a break this season, was filming footage thru the viewfinder of his phone when the beast lost control. Another spectator noticing that Edwin was not running for cover, pushed the champion out of harms way.  Edwin leapt and landed chest down upon a protruding rock which crashed his rib cage and caused his injuries.  So contrary to popular stories, although the Team Kacungwa N12B retired at this same point, it did not collide with any spectators when it went off.

Back at the head of the competition, repairs to Blick’s evo X had resuscitated it and he bounced back to set another 6^th fastest time to reduce the gap from Yasin to just 9s now.  Kepher and Fitidis, just like Yasin also held on to their positions in 7^th and 8^th, no heroics.  Omar Mayanja surpassed his record on the first run by 19s, but this time to go 3^rd fastest and fast enough to dislodge Hassan alwi Jr from 5^th.  Hassan had lost more than a minute following drive shaft failure and was less than 7s ahead of Kepher.  A brave lunge from Duncan Mubiru netted him 2^nd fastest on stage and stole 2^nd overall from Sebuguzi but only by the slimmest of margins, only 3 tenths of a second with one short stage to go.  Jas Mangat won the stage after improving his earlier stage performance by 29s.  Up at the helm, Ponsiano had managed to create sufficient altitude of more than 56s from Duncan Mubiru and Sebuguzi to cruise through the last stage.

The Kasasa spectator stage has already been noted for its folly and it did not disappoint.  Kepher took on the stage first and set the benchmark at 2m04s but this was quickly erased by Fitidis who went 7s quicker with 1m57s, fast but not enough to move ahead of Kepher in the overall results.  He remained in 8th. Hassan Alwi Jr's task was to stop the clock in 2m10s to stay ahead of Kepher however his ailing N14 didn't have the juice.  He clocked in at 2m17s losing his 6th place to Kepher. Next up Yasin Nasser reminded us of his Mukono form when he equalled Fitidis interim stage record of 01:57, remaining in 9th behind Fitidis. Arthur Blick came into the finale looking for 9s to move a place up.  This was near enough impossible even if his car would have been 100% and it wasn't.  He ended the stage slower than Yasin by 8s to remain in 10th.  Sebuguzi was next and he stopped the clock in exactly 2:00 minutes, 3s slower than Fitidis - clearly not the stage performance he needed to overhaul Duncan's advantage of just 0.3s.

The next two crews were Duncan Mubiru and Jas Mangat, with the former going in 2 minutes earlier.  We don’t know if Mangat could see and tell what was going on in stage as he waited on the start line but it was all dejavu from the standpoint of Sebuguzi who would have been waiting at the finish control hands on the clock.  1m24s seconds into the run, Duncan came at the penultimate hairpin left towards the end of the stage, got his right side wheels into a deep rut dug by preceding cars, leaned in and put the GVB on its side.  Spectators rushed to the car and put it back at 1m38s initially losing him 14s.  The car moved about a couple of metres but then stalled again.  By this time Jas had started his count down to come into the stage and while he didn't need the distraction of another car on stage, he needed this particular car to remain stranded a little longer than 45s if he was to move into the last step on the podium.  But at 1m53s the GVB came to life and throttled away into the last hairpin and the finish stopping the clock in 2m28s.  A loss of second position to Sebuguzi would sting but not as much as losing 3rd to Mangat or even a DNF so close to the finish. 

 

Jas won the stage in 01:54 to finish 4^th behind the GVB which had repeated history by rolling on the stage but then recovering to finish on the podium.  Lwakataka completed the stage in 2:01 to win the rally by 55.4s from Ronald Sebuguzi.Omar Mayanja clocked in at 2m07s to remain in 5th.

 

By the time the 2 wheelers lined up for Kasasa, Waliggo had won every single stage of day two.  he then won the Kasasa stage to make it a wrap and win the category by more than 5 minutes from Watendwa, Senkumba and Umar Kakyama.  Watendwa had looked dangerous in stage but perhaps had in fact chosen to play it safe, second was sufficient for him to retain his lead in the standings. 

Just like Waliggo and Bukenya, Jas Mangat and Jo Kamya had won every single competitive stage of the rally but had been denied victory by a costly service stop.  The pilipili crew had handed the lead on a platter to Sebuguzi who chose not to fight for it.  In the end he kept the second place he had booked on day one and with Mangat and Alwi finishing behind, is more than he needed to stretch his lead at the top of the championship standings.  Duncan Mubiru had put up a spirited fight that momentarily delivered 2^nd but there were simply not enough competitive kilometres left for him to consolidate it.  3^rd was not a bad consolation considering his own mistakes.  Omar Mayanja and Hussein Mukuye fought from 11^th on day one to climb to 5^th putting in great stage times up there with the event winners.  Ponsiano Lwakataka and Samuel Mugisha grabbed the lead from Ronald Sebuguzi and then put themselves beyond challenge to defend their victory here a year ago and crash the championship party.  A consistent drive from Yasin and Fitidis delivered less but all the same important points that keep the two in the fight for the championship.  The big losers of the weekend were Susan Muwonge and Arthur Blick Jr who were let down by car trouble.  

We now go into a long mid season break of 4 months which will end with the Pearl of Africa rally in August.  IN the meantime we shall be keeping you entertained with unique insights into different facets of rally sport in Uganda and with particular interest in our Clean Lines Racing team and the brands we represent.  Keep checking in.   

Championship Standings

Rank	Driver	Total
1	Ronald Sebuguzi	240
2	Hassan Alwi Jr	180
3	Jas Mangat	160
3	Ponsiano Lwakataka	160
5	Yasin Nasser	145
6	Christakis Fitidis	125
7	Duncan Mubiru	120
8	Omar Mayanja	90
9	Arthur Blick Jr	85
10	Fred Busuulwa	70
11	Godfrey Lubega	65
12	Ashraf Ahmed	58
14	Sam Bwete	40
15	Abdul Kateete	33
16	Musa Kabega	30
13	Kepher Walubi	55
17	Susan Muwonge	20
18	Aine Sodo	10

Blow by Blow 2019 SMC Masaka Rally Part Three – Fight or Settle? From 1 to 0 and the fight back up

Previously on Blow by Blow “…up the leader board, it was getting tighter.  Subaru drivers Duncan Mubiru and Hassan Alwi Jr had been separated by just 7 tenths of a second in stage, Duncan being the faster and marginally reducing the gap to Hassan in 3^rd to 36.7 seconds.  At the very top, Ponsiano Lwakataka who was 2s slower than Omar Mayanja on stage had also taken 16s from Ronald Ssebuguzi taking the overall lead from the latter to sit up top with an advantage of 13.2 seconds. “

The next stage, named after General Kayanja (Kalunnumu) was used in 2016 but not in 2017, it was all the same familiar to all top contenders.  However, it was one of two stages that we considered the trickiest for surprise elements of rough, kicker-drops and step-ups, as well as rock slabs.  This was a stage on which the brave could take positions or lose everything.  The first casualty was Arthur Blick Jr whose evo X lost turbo boost and with it almost 3 minutes of valuable time dropping him into tenth from 5th.  V-power team mate Omar Mayanja’s  bad luck was behind him, he escaped a near miss to post another second fastest time on stage and move up to 8^th overall displacing Yasin Nasser.  The fastest time on stage again belonged to Jas Mangat, jumping into 6^th between Kepher and Fitidis who had swapped positions again, the latter taking the loss of position as Kepher took the gain and also took advantage of Blick’s fall.

Up top, Lwakataka set the 3^rd fastest time after Omar Mayanja to more than double his gap to Sebuguzi which now stood at 28.9s.  Sebuguzi also eased himself away from Alwi Jr by a further 8s to make it 19s while Duncan’s 4^th fastest time, 16s quicker than Alwi shrunk the gap between them to 20s.  For the time being advantage remained with Hassan, however it was becoming clear that he would be the loser of a podium position if he didn’t put up a fight. 

Watendwa tried his best to catch the runaway Waliggo and came quite close in this stag, only 6 seconds slower this time.  But that meant that the gap between him and the leader was growing.  Fred Senkumba who won the category in Mukono earlier was still more than a minute off the pace but was now holding 3^rd place ahead of Umar Kakyama.

Some relief, however little would come in the way of cancellation of the first running of the Kasasa spectator stage.  While it was only 1.74 kms short, a big mistake on it could be catastrophic as Sebuguzi will narrate from his experience in 2016.  A cancellation was a good thing for those on a defensive strategy.  Cars transited through the stage non-competitively to enter the adjacent service park.  Rare mistakes from Ponsiano Lwakataka and Hassan Alwi Jr would see them enter the service park earlier than booked and earn themselves penalties – just 10s not too disastrous for Lwakataka but 90s for Alwi Jr made Duncan’s job easy, promoting him a place into 3^rd and making it near enough impossible for alwi Jr to reclaim it in the remaining distance.  To make matters worse, Kepher Walubi was now just 5s behind while the pilipili fox was lurking a mere 8.2s behind.

The world wide movers stage (Mayanja) is the second of the two trickiest stages that offered competitors a little more chilli in their favourite drink however it was also mostly familiar – with changes coming in the last 30% of the stage.   In scenes reminiscent of the 2012 season, Byron Rugomoka rolled his Evo 7 on a stretch of seemingly harmless grasstrack very similar to where Black widow had shunted his Impreza N10.  Godfrey Lubega was doing well in 11^th until a puncture in this stage cost him 6 minutes and dumped him into 15^th.  

  

The evo x that loves pilipili gobbled the stage up in 10m21.2s only 3s faster than Lwakataka and 13s up on Duncan.  These stage performances consolidated Lwakataka’s lead to 45s over Sebuguzi but reduced the latter’s advantage to Duncan Mubiru in third, to only 23s.  However, the lion’s share went to Jas mangat who leapt two places to take Hassan Alwi Jr’s 4^th position.  Similarly Omar Mayanja had posted a 4^th fastest time and gained two positions into 6^th, pushing Kepher and Fitidis down into 7^th and 8^th respectively.  More interestingly, Omar was now just 1.6s from taking Hassan’s place with 2 stages to go.  Arthur Blick Jr came in 6^th fastest but it was not enough to move him any places and he remained in 10^th, 31.9s behind Yasin Nasser holding steady in 9^th. 

Next on Blow by Blow “…The repeat of General Kayanja stage was up next.  Remember this is where fortunes are made and fallen heroes interred. … Susan Muwonge had had a bad day in the office, not the first since the beginning of the season, but this was shaping out worse than any before it.”