NAIVASHA, Kenya, March 14 – Kenya’s Karan Patel and his partner Tauseef Khan are closing in on the top honours in the FIA African Rally Championship (ARC) category of the WRC Safari Rally 2026 after maintaining their lead on Saturday in Naivasha.
The two time ARC champion, who is seeking to regain his continental crown after losing it last year, only needs to avoid trouble in the last four stages on Sunday to win the class.
The duo, competing in their Skoda Fabia R5, adopted a cautious approach on the penultimate day, finishing 17th overall.
Patel is out to dethrone ARC champion Uganda’s Yasin Nasser who retired on Friday and winning the opening round of the continental championship will send a strong signal of intent.
The Kenyan ace is also lying seventh in the WRC2 category, a testament to his consistent performance.
In WRC2, Skoda’s Robert Virves leads after finishing fifth overall, ahead of Gus Greensmith of Toyota in sixth.
