''I'm speechless''After dominating his home event, the Zimbabwe Challenge Rally, 22-year-old Conrad Rautenbach took the win by over 7 minutes and became the youngest-ever African Champion along the way.
Conrad, who returned home with a comfortable championship lead,
only needed 3 points to take the title but having won this event for the past two years he led from the word go.
Being fastest through the opening seven-kilometre super special on Friday night gave him a confidence boost, but the job was made easier when one of his expected challengers, fellow countryman Jamie White, rolled into retirement on the very first stage!
Apart from a minor altercation with some local wildlife on Saturday, Conrad, co-driven by Pete Marsh in the Jardine Lloyd Thompson-backed Subaru Impreza, continued to extend his lead throughout the day, even returning to Harare with a five-minute lead over title rival Muna Singh.
Sunday went like clockwork with Conrad extending his lead to eventually win by over 7 minutes!
"I'm speechless. It is such a fantastic feeling to win the African Championship," Conrad beamed. "Competition has been really tough this year but to win it at home is amazing! The car was brilliant and full credit to the organising team, they did a fantastic job in pretty difficult circumstances!"
The path to championship victory was not as easy as it seemed.
After damaging his suspension on the opening round, Conrad had to re-evaluate his attack strategy and followed this up with victory on the Safari Rally in Kenya, beating the might of the FIAT works team.
After beating off the locals in Uganda and Rwanda, the young Zimbabwean took the fight to the Super 2000s in South Africa, finishing second overall and taking maximum African Rally Championship points, finishing ahead of no less than five of the revolutionary new cars.
Conrad will not have much time to reflect on his conquest as he flies out immediately to prepare for this coming weekend's Rally Isle of Man. Not only will Conrad be changing cars from a four-wheel drive Subaru Impreza to a front-wheel drive Citroen C2 S1600, but both the weather and the surface will change dramatically.
From the dusty gravel of Southern Africa to the wet and tricky tarmac roads of the Isle of Man in only four days is a true test of this talented youngster.
Source Geoff Mayes Media
