Security paramount at Pearl of Africa Rally

Pearl of Africa Rally

Thursday: Car scrutineering (9am)

Friday: Super Special Stage (Busiika)

Saturday: Competitive stages (Kayunga)

All is set for the Shell V-Power Pearl of Africa Uganda Rally that starts tomorrow with the Super Special Stage in Busiika Luwero district.

The battleground is set and organisers are leaving no room for mistakes during the back-breaking continental event that has attracted 51 competitors.

Safety will be a priority and Uganda People's Defence Force (UPDF) has come on board to support the organisers with two Helicopters besides its field force together with Uganda Police.

"UPDF has given us two helicopters on top of the field force. One will be monitoring the event and another on standby for any emergency," event manager Dusman Okee said.

"With 51 crews participating, we are aware of the crowd control challenges, because of the huge numbers of fans following this event, but we have put in place measures to tackle them," Okee added.

He explained that this year's event will be unique right from the super special stage which has been designed to excite fans by adding in jumps.

He also appealed to fans to control themselves and put safety first before anything they do.

All cars will be scrutineered today at shell Bugolobi and any car that doesn't meet safety standards will be disqualified.

FIA officials arrive

The world motorsport governing body (FIA) safety delegates Willie Du Plessis and Natacha Geber the FIA Road rally task force program officials on Wednesday started training safety marshals at Silver Springs Hotel.

The event is the fourth round of the National rally championship and also the fifth round of the Africa Rally Championship (ARC).

After the 4.8km super special stage tomorrow, the crews will take the fight in Kayunga where they a battle it out in eight stages totalling to 192.4kms.