by Geoff Mayes


BRC and JRC runner, Conrad Rautenbach dominated his home event, the Zimbabwe Challenge Rally at the weekend, to win by over 7 minutes and in the process become the youngest ever African champion.

The 22-year-old, 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.

Fastest through the opening 7 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, Rautenbach, co-driven by Pete Marsh in the Jardine Lloyd Thompson-backed Subaru Impreza, continued to extend his lead throughout the day, returning to Harare with a 5 minute lead over title rival Muna Singh. Sunday went like clockwork and he eventually took the win with ease.

“I'm speechless. It is such a fantastic feeling to win the African Championship. Competition has been really tough this year but to win it at home is amazing,” he reflected. “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 in the ARC was not as easy as it seemed though. After damaging his suspension on the opening round Rautenbach 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 championship points, finishing ahead of no less than five of the revolutionary new cars.

Rautenbach will not have much time to reflect on his conquest however, as he flies out immediately to prepare for the third round of the 2007 Tesco 99 Octane MSA British Rally Championship, the Rally Isle of Man, which runs from July 19-21.