It’s no longer a rumor, the Pearl of Africa Uganda Rally will take place in Mbarara, Western Uganda. It’s scheduled for May 8th – 11th weekend.
The event will be run as the second round of African Rally Championship as well as the third National Rally Championship round for three days with 11 sections.A total distance of 486.26 km will be covered overall with 298.16 km liaison as 188.10 km will be competitive.
Thursday will start with free practice before a 4.20 km qualifying stage. There after, cars will run the shakedown which is 4.32 km at Mwesigwa resort. Shakedown will have two runs with each crew doing at least one.
Day two, Friday will have Kaguta 1 and Ankole Cow 1 stages done before a 30 minutes service where drivers will proceed from to Mwesigwa resort for Rukaari 1&2 as super special stage.
On Saturday, the crews will embark on the fight Charles Muhangi, Kaguta 2 and Ankole Cow 2 stages done first before service. Moses Lumala and Robert Rukaari stages will follow and then out for another service. Kaguta 3, Ankole Cow 3 will be the last stages done before another service and the 8.50 km Shell V-Power stage.
A look into the stages
• Charles Muhangi Stage – 18.11 km: its 85% closed will be starting from Nyakahita town along Kaguta road. It will be ending at NAGRIC land. This stage is twist and tight at the beginning with a lot of loss that needs a lot of crew concentrate.
• Moses Lumala Stage – 20.29 km: this will be 75% closed starting at Sanga town to Bihare. It’s the reverse of the Lumala stage drove in January during the Mbarara Rally. It’s the stage where Peter Kalule rolled, Musa Ssegaabwe nearly went off and most notable where the Mbarara accident happened. According to the vice COC, Alfred Mutanda making it a reverse was for safety precautions.
• Ankole Cow Stage – 19.28 km: This one is in launches, it’s 100% closed starting at NAGRIC mechanization workshop to Akageeti town. This starts with stretch, tightens in the middle with more stretch in 6-10 kilometers towards FF. To those who watched the WRC Kenya Safari Rally, Ankole Cow is like the famous sleeping warrior stage.
• Kaguta Stage – 23.28 km: It’s also 100% closed, it has wild animals in it, smooth with a lot of corners. The section starts at Akageeti town just near the Ankole Cow stage FF to the mechanization workshop. It starts with a lot of corners but has flat outs in the middle but it tightens towards the end.
• Rukaari Stage – 10.50 km: This has newly designed routes compared to the previously done Rukaari stage. It’s 100% closed starting at the service park (Mwesigwa resort) to speaker Tayebwa’ s road. The stage was designed as a purpose-built service park to act as hospitality area and rally headquarters. It is full of twists with a lot of co driver talk.
