New navigator for Ian Duncan
Ian Duncan will engage a new navigator for the 2015 Kenya Airways East African Safari Classic Rally. Andrew Doig, son of the late David Doig, who won the Safari Rally twice as Joginder Singh’s co-driver, will now replace Amar Slatch as Duncan’s camp for the up-coming Kenya Airways-sponsored rally set to start from Mombasa tomorrow.
“It is a big honour and challenge to sit with one of the legends of rallying in Kenya. Duncan is a household name and I am looking forward to the challenge. Though this will be my second rally to navigate Duncan, having done so in the 2000 Caltex Equator Rally driving a Subaru Impreza,” said Doig.
Famously known as Doigy, Andrew is no stranger to rallying in East Africa having started the competition as a driver in a 1982 at the wheels of a Land Rover 110 for almost a decade before dividing his attention to co-driving.
When contacted, Slatch said he was disappointed that he will not be there to help defend the title they won in 2013 but wishes Duncan and Doigy to repeat winning ways with all the support. Navigators play a major role in the Marathon Raid Rally that does not allow pace notes or allow any competitor or team member to visit the stages before the start of the rally during the course of the nine-day period.
Duncan will start off first in this year’s edition at the wheels of his Ford Capri followed by the Porsche 911 of the former FIA World Group N Champion, Gregoire de Mevius of Belgium. Leading Kenya National Rally drivers, Carl Tundo (5th), Onkar Rai (8th) and Alistair Cavenagh (10th) are seeded among the top-10 drivers.
The event will be about 3331km long divide into 24 competitive stages over a period of nine days spread across Kenya and Tanzania. Eighty-percent of the stages are said to be new and have never used before. This year’s competition will spend the first half of the duration on the Kenyan side before the entourage moves into Tanzania via the Namanga Border for the next part of the action. As part of the safety and security of the drivers, the organizers have secured a sponsorship deal with Soltic Africa, which will monitor the movement of each and every car during the competition.
Source: http://www.the-star.co.ke/news/new-navigator-ian-duncan
