KAMPALA, Uganda, May 6 – Kenya’s Aakif Virani is having to change tactics for his Pearl of Africa Uganda Rally debut after reconnaissance revealed long, flat-out stretches unlike anything he contests back home.
“It’s our first time in Uganda, and it’s quite welcoming, the people are very hospitable, very passionate, very polite,” Virani said in Mbarara. “We went to look at the stages on recce, and two stages are similar to what we have in Sleeping Warrior and Loldia, but nothing of concern.”
“But the rest are high speed, which we don’t get much of back home, so we had to change the setup of the car quite considerably. So yes, we are looking forward to our Pearl Rally debut.”
The Kenyan, who has one National Rally Championship win in Nanyuki and currently lies second in the FIA African Rally Championship (ARC) behind Karan Patel, said he is happy to be in Mbarara as teams put the final touches to preparations.
Tuesday marked the end of day two of reconnaissance, closing the recce exercise. Pre-event scrutineering, installation of tracking devices, and sealing and marking were conducted at Shell Makenke.
Thursday, May 7, opens another busy day on the rally week with the qualifying stage and free practice from 9:00 am to 11:15 am, followed by shakedown at midday. The ceremonial start is set for Lake View Resort — the rally’s host hotel in Uganda’s “milk capital” — from 5:10 pm.
Leg 1 and Leg 2 run on Friday and Saturday, respectively. Post-event scrutineering returns to Shell Makenke on Saturday at 5:00 pm, with prize-giving at Lake View Resort to close Pearl 2026.
