Where Seven Nations Meet in the Dust — Mountain Gorilla Rally 2026 and the Power of African Grassroots Motorsport
World Stage Journal
ARC Round 4, Rwanda. Karan Patel / Tauseef Khan take overall victory. India's Naveen Puligilla dominates ARC3 with 12 stage wins. Seven nations, a bank sponsor, and a motorsport culture the WRC calendar never shows.
Rwanda's Bugesera district hosted Round 4 of the FIA African Rally Championship from July 10 to 12, 2026. Seventeen crews from eight nations — Rwanda, Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Burundi, Zimbabwe, Denmark, and India — contested 18 special stages across 307.52 competitive kilometres at speeds approaching 170 km/h. Far from the grandstands of the WRC calendar, this is a motorsport culture that grows from the gravel up.
Overall victory went to Karan Patel and Tauseef Khan of Kenya, aboard a Skoda Fabia Rally2. The pair, who have competed together for over a decade, mastered the Bugesera gravel to claim the top step. Ahmed Huwel of Tanzania finished second overall, with Aakif Virani of Kenya third.
In the ARC3 class, Naveen Puligilla and Musa Sherif of Team Duran Racing — Puligilla hailing from Hyderabad, Sherif from Kasaragod — won 12 of the 18 stages to take class honours and finish fourth overall. Their performance underlined the growing presence of South Asian drivers in African championship rallying.
BPR Bank Rwanda served as title sponsor with a reported investment of Rwf 150 million (approximately JPY 16.5 million), alongside co-sponsor Engen Rwanda. In the ARC standings, Karan Patel leads the championship heading into the second half of the season.
The deep dive at the end of this article is for WSJ subscribers only.
Die Beträge in Landeswährung dienen nur als Orientierung. Alle Zahlungen werden in japanischen Yen (JPY) abgerechnet; der genaue Betrag hängt vom Wechselkurs zum Zahlungszeitpunkt ab.
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