Karan Patel stormed to a third straight Pearl of Africa Uganda Rally victory on Sunday, becoming only the second driver in history to claim three back-to-back wins at the iconic event after countryman Manvir Baryan.
Patel had his campaign effectively sewn up when longtime leader Samman Vohra blew a pro shaft towards the end of SS10.
Patel, with Tauseef Khan on the notes, won in Jinja in 2024 and in Mbarara in 2025 and 2026 to equal Baryan’s run of 2017, 2018 and 2019.
The result came after a late twist on SS10 Kaguta 3, where longtime leader Samman Vohra stopped with mechanical gremlins and lost over 10 minutes.
The ARC Junior Champion Samman had dominated the weekend, beating Patel by 1:58.3 in SS1 and 2:31.1 in SS2, and led by 5:49 after Friday’s Leg 1.
Samman was left to rue what turned out to be a second heartbreak in ugnda despite setting the pace: “We were going really well, I think, by the time we had a mechanical failure, we had a lead of 8 minutes and 2 seconds and 2 kilometres to the end of SS10, and the prop shaft just blew. Freak failure, we had to stop and then drove the car on the front wheel drive . It’s rallying an 8 minute lead reduced to nothing.”
Patel’s own rally nearly unraveled on Friday when power steering issues dropped him time, but savoured some stage wins in the Saturday’s stages to stay in touch. When Vohra hit trouble in SS10 , Patel assumed the lead and held it to the finish.
For Vohra, it is another cruel chapter in Uganda. He retired here last year and has yet to conquer the Ugandan terrain despite setting the pace across the last two editions.
Vohra nevertheless bounced back to claim maximum bonus points on on the Shell V Power Stage where he beat Karan to second.
Patel now clings to the top of the Africa Rally Championship log after a weekend of survival.
Reigning African Rally Champion Yasin Nasser and home driver came third overall followed by Aakif Virani amd Jasmeet Chana
Chana was all smiles.on his Uganda debut :
“The essence this weekend was to drive with our head, not to take too many risks
We would be bettet off but had powere steering issues on Friday,”
Charlie Lubega of Uganda has won this event three times though not consecutively
PEARL OF AFRICAUGANDA RALLY, PAST WINNERS
1996: Karim Hirji/Frank Nekusa – Toyota Celica ST 185
1997: Chipper Adams/Justin Beyendeza – Toyota Supra
1998: Charles Muhangi/Steven Byaruhanga – Subaru Impreza
1999: Chipper Adams/Justin Beyendeza – Toyota Supra
2000: Charlie Lubega/Abed Musa – Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 4
2002: Johnny Gemmel/Robert Paisley – Subaru Impreza WRX
2003: Charlie Lubega/Abed Musa – Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 4
2004: Charlie Lubega/Abed Musa – Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 4
2005: Riyaz Kurji/Sayed Kadri – Subaru Impreza N10
2006: Riyaz Kurji/Sayed Kadri – Subaru Impreza N8
2007: Conrad Rautenbach/Peter Marsh – Subaru Impreza N10
2008: Jamie Whyte/Phil Archenoul – Subaru Impreza N10
2009: Riyaz Kurji/Sayed Kadri – Subaru Impreza N8
2010: Jamie Whyte/Phil Archenoul – Subaru Impreza N10
2011: Ponsiano Lwakataka/Musa Nsubuga – Subaru Impreza N8
2012: Mohammed Essa/Greg Stead – Subaru Impreza N12
2013: Jas Mangat/Gihan de Silva – Mitsubishi Lancer Evo X
2014: Rajbir Rai/Tim Challen – Mitsubishi Lancer Evo X
2015: Jaspreet Singh Chatthe/Craig Thorley – Mitsubishi Lancer Evo X
2016: Hassan Alwi/Enock Olinga – Subaru Impreza STi N14
2017: Manvir Singh Baryan/Drew Sturrock – Škoda Fabia R5
2018: Manvir Singh Baryan/Drew Sturrock – Škoda Fabia R5
2019: Manvir Singh Baryan/Drew Sturrock – Škoda Fabia R5
2020: Cancelled due to COVID
2021: Cancelled due to COVID
2022: Jas Mangat/Joseph Kamya – Mitsubishi Lancer Evo X
2023: Jas Mangat/Joseph Kamya
2024: Karan Patel/Tauseef Khan – KEN/KEN
2025: Karan Patel/Tauseef Khan – KEN/KEN
2026: Karan Patel/Tauseef Khan – KEN/KEN
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