Omar Mayanja wins Mbarara Rally
Jan 30, 2017
Mayanja won his first race in two years
Mbarara Rally
Omar Mayanja 1:51:26
Ronald Ssebuguzi 1:53:29
Duncan Mubiru 1:56:10
Christakis Fitidis 1:59:08
Ambrose Byona 2:1:05
The crew of Omar Mayanja and Hussein Mukuye in a Mitsubishi Evo10 won the Mbarara Rally upsetting all the pre-event favourites.
Mayanja finished two minutes ahead of favourite Ronald Ssebuguzi in second and third placed Duncan Mubiru.
Christakis Fitidis also in a Mitsubishi Evo10, finished fourth while Ambrose Byona in a Mitsubishi Evo9 came fifth in a tightly contested event that saw defending National Rally Champion, Jas Mangat, and 2015 champion, Arthur Blick Jr, drop out in the last section.
"We took it easy and I'm very grateful that we have won an event after two years" Omar stated referring to the 2014 Independence Rally and Pearl of Africa Rally.
Mayanja in action during the race. Photo by Johnson Were
"We are going to go back and correct our mistakes, fix our car and then wait to collect maximum points because we are targeting this year's championship" Omar added.
Duncan Mubiru attributed his poor performance to the change of weather.
"We did the reccing in dry conditions but rain changed all the plans but it is not yet over" Mubiru said.