Jas Mangat came out of the weekend’s Mbarara City rally with flying colours, after posting a total lost time of 1:10:21.84 beating the rest 23 that completed the 133km two day competition that covered the districts of Mbarara, Kiruhura and Mbarara City.

Mangat navigated by Enock Olinga and cruising in their newly acquired monster Hyundai i20 R5, topped the rest with a 10 minutes lead where only Jonas Kansiime in a Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 8, came second on 1:20:21.13 with former champion Ponsiano Lwakataka completing the podium finish with a time of 1:20:48.45 in third.

Mangat’s retun to the local NRC competitions and coming on top in a commanding lead of the calendar opener, comes with a number of reasons to look at.

A powerful car

Mangat’s new acquisition of a modern Hyundai i20 R5 is what makes him the favourite for this year’s NRC title, considering other factors constant.

A Hyundai i20 the most modern rally machine manufactured and assembled by Hyundai in 2017 and has been used by top WRC drivers like Thierry Neuville, Hayden Paddon and Dani Sordo with Neuville winning the manufacturers championship in 2019 and 2020.

Mangat And Part Of His Family Members Receive The Certificate After Coming Top Of Mbarara Rally

When his car was lowered off its career in Mbarara, few fans did not know about the machine as they run to glance at Ssebuguzi’s, the Ford Fiesta Proto they had watched racing in the 2023 event, for Mangat’s was coming here for the first time.

And with Ronald Ssebuguzi fronting his Ford Fiesta Proto, while Kansiime (Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 8), Ponsiano Lwakataka in Subaru Impreza N12B, and others in Subaru and Mitsubishi, they were only coming second in quality.

Mangat who is returning to the local competitions since 2019, can only be let down by mechanical problems in the coming events.

The absence of Mubiru, Nasser

In an event where three top contenders Duncan Mubiru aka Kikankane, 2022 NRC champions Baylon Rugomoka and defending champion and national title holder Yasin Nasser did not turn up, Mangat was left with a simple task of taking care of Ronald Ssebuguzi and Jonas Kansiime which he did.

Their presence would have given Ssebuguzi a calculated competition and Mangat a run for his money, but when the competition turned out a two-man top class, Mangat was left with all the comfort to beat them.

With 100 points in the bag, Mangat now awaits how his competitors will come out in the next competitions on the calendar. 

Fastest times on day one

Mangat took the bull by its horns on day one, posting the fastest times of the day from the three sections of the event.

The first 25.21km Katebe-Biharwe section saw the crew complete it in 13:27 minutes before taking 8:36 minutes over the second Biharwe-Kakoba section, beating Ssebuguzi by two minutes in each.

Jas Mangat Powers His Hyundai I20 R5 During The Mbarara Event (1)

When it came to the super special stage at tarmac Booma grounds, Mangat posted a time of 2:49.40 minutes in the first round before lowering to 2:14:50 minutes in the second with Ssebuguzi making 3:19.80 and 3:07.20 minutes respectively.

This left Ssebuguzi in catch up rush on the longest day two sections and in the end, he developed mechanical problems and could not push further as he finished in a devastating 11th position with Mangat coming top.

Penalty free

Mangat is the most careful driver on the local scene as he rarely gets mechanical problems and penalties in the competitions he takes part in.

And this still happened in Mbarara as he raced penalty and mechanical problems free while his competitors were struggling with either.

The 2024 NRC championship is for Mangat to lose as the three time national champion looks ahead for the forth to add to the cabin.