Pearl of Africa Uganda Rally or Pearl of Africa Rally Uganda (PoARU) is one of the main motorsport events in Uganda. It is part of the National Rally Championship and the FIA African Rally Championship (ARC). [1]
The first edition of the Pearl of Africa Rally was held in 1997 as an African Rally Championship candidate event. This followed the successful organisation of Burundi's Great Lakes Rally in Uganda in 1996. The Great Lakes Rally was moved to Uganda due to political instability in Burundi. Inspired by the success of the Great Lakes Rally, Uganda decided to apply for its own African Rally Championship event in 1997. [1]
As Winston Churchill visited Uganda, he baptised the country as the ‘Pearl of Africa’, that's where this event receives its name from. [1]
Some remarkable drivers in the history of Uganda are Sospeter Munyegera, Shekhar Mehta, Satwant Singh, Charlie Lubega, Moses Lumala, Emmanuel Katto and Chipper Adams, among others. [1]
Source: Motor Sport Uganda [2] and African Rally Championship [1]
Year | Driver | Co-driver | Car | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|
1996 | Karim Hirji | Frank Nekusa | Toyota Celica ST 185 | Run under FIA rules as the Great Lakes Rally, jointly with Club Automobile du Burundi |
1997 | Chipper Adams | Justin Beyendeza | Toyota Supra | Run as the Pearl of Africa Uganda Rally - ARC Candidate event |
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 | Crew run under Kenyan Licence |
2007 | Conrad Rautenbach | Peter Marsh | Subaru Impreza N10 | |
2008 | Jamie Whyte | Phil Archenoul | Subaru Impreza N10 | |
2009 | Riyaz Kurji | Sayed Kadri | Subaru Impreza N8 | Prize granted posthumously [3] |
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 | |
The Monte Carlo Rally or Rallye Monte-Carlo is a rallying event organized each year by the Automobile Club de Monaco. From its inception in 1911 by Prince Albert I, the rally was intended to demonstrate improvements and innovations in automobiles, and promote Monaco as a tourist resort on the Mediterranean shore. Before the format changed in 1997, the event was a “concentration rally” in which competitors would set off from various starting points around Europe and drive to Monaco, where the rally would continue to a set of special stages. The rally now takes place along the French Riviera in Monaco and southeast France.
The Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile is an association established on 20 June 1904 to represent the interests of motoring organisations and motor car users. It is the governing body for many auto racing events, including Formula One. The FIA also promotes road safety around the world.
Motorsport(s) or motor sport(s) are sporting events, competitions and related activities that primarily involve the use of automobiles, motorcycles, motorboats and powered aircraft. For each of these vehicle types, the more specific terms automobile sport, motorcycle sport, power boating and air sports may be used commonly, or officially by organisers and governing bodies.
Donington Park is a motorsport circuit located near Castle Donington in Derbyshire, England. The circuit business is now owned by Jonathan Palmer's MotorSport Vision organisation, and the surrounding Donington Park Estate, still owned by the Wheatcroft family, is currently under lease by MotorSport Vision until 2038. It has a capacity of 120,000, and is also the venue of the Download Festival.
Carlos Sainz Cenamor is a Spanish rally driver. He won the World Rally Championship drivers' title with Toyota in 1990 and 1992, and finished runner-up four times. Constructors' world champions to have benefited from Sainz are Subaru (1995), Toyota (1999) and Citroën. In the 2018 season, he was one of the official drivers of the Team Peugeot Total. He received the Princess of Asturias Sports Award in 2020. Sainz founded the Acciona | Sainz XE Team to join Extreme E and competed in the first two seasons alongside Laia Sanz.
Autocross is a form of motorsport in which competitors are timed to complete a short course using automobiles on a dirt or grass surface, excepting where sealed surfaces are used in United States. Rules vary according to the governing or sanctioning body, such as the length of the course, the amount of permitted attempts, or whether competitors start the course individually at intervals or at the same time as others. In this latter form, Autocross differs from other forms of motor racing by using a system of heats or alternative timing methods for the classification rather than racing for position and declaring the first across the finish line as the winner.
Rallycross is a form of sprint style automobile racing, held on a closed mixed-surface racing circuit, with modified production or specially built road cars, similar to the World Rally Cars. It is mainly popular in the Nordic countries, the Netherlands, Belgium, France and Great Britain. An inexpensive, entry level type of rallycross is the Swedish folkrace or its Norwegian counterpart, the so-called bilcross. The folkrace is most popular in Finland where it was founded back in the late 1960s. In Europe, rallycross can also refer to racing 1:8 scale off-road radio-controlled buggies.
Chandra Shekhar Mehta was a Ugandan-born Kenyan rally driver. He won the Safari Rally a record five times, including four consecutively, and in 1981 finished fifth in the World Rally Championship.
François Delecour is a French rally driver.
The Federation of Motor Sports Clubs of India, abbreviated as FMSCI, is the governing body for motor sports in India and was founded in 1971. It is a long-standing member of the Fédération Internationale de Motocyclisme (FIM) and Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA), the world bodies for 2/3 and 4 wheeler motor sport respectively.
M-Sport is a motorsport engineering company headquartered at Dovenby Hall near Cockermouth, United Kingdom. It is primarily known for entering the FIA World Rally Championship (WRC) since 1997 in partnership with Ford, manufacturing race and rally cars, and providing parts and motorsport services to customers. The company has an automotive evaluation facility at its headquarters, and a second manufacturing facility in Kraków, Poland.
Robert Reid is a retired British rally co-driver who became 2001 World Rally Champion alongside champion driver Richard Burns (1971–2005). Since retiring from competition, Reid has held various positions with both Motorsport UK and FIA, and since 2021 is the serving FIA Deputy President for Sport.
Nazir Hoosein was an Indian racing driver and motorsport administrator. He was the President of the Motorsports Association of India, Vice President of the FIA for Sport, chief steward of the World Rally Championship and a member of the World Motor Sport Council.
The African Rally Championship (ARC) is an international automobile rally championship run under the auspices of the FIA. The championship was first held in 1981 and won by Shekhar Mehta. The most successful driver in the championship's history is Zambian driver Satwant Singh with eight championships. The reigning 2023 champions are Kenyans Karan Patel and Navigator Tauseef Khan.
The 2010 World Rally Championship was the 38th season of the FIA World Rally Championship. The season consisted of 13 rallies, beginning with Rally Sweden on 11 February and ended with Wales Rally GB on 14 November.
The 2014 FIA World Rally Championship was the 42nd season of the World Rally Championship, a rallying championship recognised by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile as the highest class of international rallying. Teams and drivers contested thirteen rallies across four continents, competing for the FIA World Rally Championships for Drivers and Manufacturers. The WRC-2, WRC-3 and Junior WRC championships all ran in support of the premier championship.
The Rwanda Mountain Gorilla Rally, known originally as the Fraternity Rally, is an international rallying event organised by the Rwanda Automobile Club. The rally is based in the Rwandan capital of Kigali. The event is a round of the African Rally Championship and the Rwandan National Rally Championship.
The 2004 Wales Rally GB was a rallying autosports race held over four days between 16 and 19 September 2004 and operated out of Cardiff, Wales, United Kingdom. It was the twelfth round of the 2004 World Rally Championship (WRC) and the 60th running of the event. Contested over 19 stages, the rally was won by Subaru World Rally Team driver Petter Solberg. Sébastien Loeb finished second for the Citroën World Rally Team and Ford driver Markko Märtin came in third.
The 2020 FIA WRC2 Championship was the eighth season of WRC2, a rallying championship organised and governed by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile as the second-highest tier of international rallying. The category was open to cars entered by manufacturers and complying with R5 regulations.
The 2021 FIA WRC3 Championship was the eighth season of WRC3, a rallying championship organised and governed by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile as the third-highest tier of international rallying. It was open to privately entered cars complying with Group Rally2 regulations. The championship began in January 2021 with the Rallye Monte-Carlo and concluded in November 2021 with Rally Monza, running in support of the 2021 World Rally Championship.