Three of the top four positions in the recent Eldoret rally were held by cars built by MML Sports, with Carl ‘Flash’ Tundo holding second overall in the Kenyan national Rally Championship standings in an MML car.
The third round of the KNRC saw 20 crews entered to compete over the seven stages, totalling 138 Km. While many crews were wary of wet weather approaching, the event remained dry with dusty and rough conditions ahead.
MML Sports had three cars running on the event; Team Kibos’ Jassi Chatthe in his Mitsubishi Lancer EvolutionX R4, Chager Baldev in the Kabras Sugar Team’s matching R4 EvoX and for the first season, Carl ‘Flash’ Tundo in a third R4 EvoX, under the Top Fry Racing banner.
It was hardly surprising that former FIA World Rally Championship and British Rally Championship driver, Tapio Laukkanen set the pace and by the end of the event, had used his vast experience to take the win over Chatthe, in second place. Chager was 15 seconds further back and Tundo was just 20 seconds adrift in fourth, making three MML Sports R4 EvoXs in the top four.
However, what is more impressive is that all three finished ahead of the two Skoda R5 cars entered in the event, driven by Baryan Singh and Onkar Rai, the latter formerly an MMLS R4 driver but now, 1m30s behind the leading R4.
Commenting, MML Sports Managing Director, John Easton, said; “While I’m obviously disappointed that we didn’t get a win this weekend, I am more pleased that we had three cars in the top four. I think this demonstrates once again that our cars are both fast and reliable, particularly when compared with the R5 Skodas and R5 Fiesta.
“It’s also good to see Flash maintaining second on the KnRC standing in his first season at the wheel of an MML Sports R4 – he clearly seems at home right away and I’m looking forward to more success for all the cars as the year goes on.”