Dutchman Remon Vos Wins Mini Classic Rally

Dutchman Remon Vos emerge the winner of the three-day East African Mini Classic championship.

Remon Vos was elevated from his third-place finish in 08:36:52 after defending champion Baldev Chager, who had won the race, and second-placed finisher Piers Daykin were disqualified for deviating off the course by more than six kilometers.

The two Kenyan drivers failed to adhere to the rules of the sport which got them slapped with a five-hour penalty after being found guilty.

“Chager’s car deviated from the main rally route in Stage 8 at 31.50kms and the tracking shows a deviation of 6.57kms off the route, thus missing 21 tulip diagrams. This is a breach of article 5 (ii) of the event regulations,” a communique stated on the ruling.

"Having considered the matter, Baldev Charger did not follow the prescribed roadbook," the statement added.

Driving a Porsche 911, the 52-year-old began the rally on Friday on the front foot, posting the fastest time at the Solai-Bogoria stage (90km), in addition to clinching Metkei-Kapkitony 2 (82.35km) and Kipsaos-Muskut (62.66km) on Saturday and Sunday respectively.

Ramon Vos who is competing in Kenya for the second time ran a tactical race behind the two disqualified Kenyan drivers.

The Dutchman who was unaware of winning the grueling three-day rally had earlier spoken of the delightful time he had in Kenya. He went ahead to give credit to his navigator, Belgian Stephane Prevot.

“It is a very nice country with a lot to offer…People are very friendly and I also think there are many fantastic opportunities business-wise. It has a young population and a very well-built infrastructure and roads. I am impressed by how well everything is built so…yeah, there are definitely many reasons to come back to the country,” Remon Vos said.

A total of nine stages was run over the three days of the competition with drivers covering a distance of about 1000 Kilometers traversing the Rift valley.