Reigning Kenyan Champion Samman Singh Vohra racked-up his second win of the 2025 FIA African Rally Championship (ARC) season as Rallye International Du Burundi dust settled in Ngozi, a northern city which serves as the capital of Ngozi Province.
Driving like a man possessed, Samman led the rally from start to finish, winning all the 15 speed tests at stake, including SS15 Vverwa stage (2.40km) whose third pass served as the event’s Power Stage.
A “Power Stage” is a designated final special stage on a rally where bonus points are awarded. The five fastest drivers and co-drivers through the Power Stage earn extra championship points, adding excitement to the end of each rally.
Samman did it in bravado this weekend in Ngozi clearing the ground with all his course adversaries and indeed amassing an additional five championship points ahead of the season-closing rally in Tanzania the weekend of 19-21 September.
With an apparently insatiable appetite for speed, Samman beat Ugandan Yassin Nasser by a massive 10.27.7 margin to complete back to back wins after last month’s Rwanda Mountain Gorilla Rally.
The former Autocross and Rally Raid star was peerless from the onset, in gravel stages located 125km away from Bujumbura capital.
After setting the quickest times in Thursday’s Free Practice, Shakedown and Qualifying, Samman won all the nine stages at stake in Friday’s Leg One, establishing a comfortable 7-minute lead over Nasser, who incidentally is the reigning Ugandan Champion.
Going into the closing Leg Two on Saturday, Samman didn’t relent on his fearless and flat-out antics.
The ARC season revved with the 2025 WRC Kenya Safari Rally on 20-23 March, Naivasha where Kenyan youngster Jeremiah Wahome emerged the victor.
The second stop on the 2025 ARC schedule was the iconic Pearl of Africa Uganda Rally on 9-11 May where Karan Patel emerged the winner.
Samman won the 2025 Mountain Gorilla Rally in Busegera province near Burundi border on 4–6 July.
Meanwhile, Kenyan officials officiated on the Rallye Burundi as part of the commitment to growing motorsport in the region.
Kenya Airways has supported Kenyan drivers such as Karan Patel, Nikhil Sachania, and Tinashe Gatimu, enabling their participation in various ARC rallies.
In the spirit of developing the sport and strengthening technical expertise, KQ facilitated the travel of technical officials across East Africa, including Rwanda, Tanzania, Kenya, Burundi, and Uganda, to attend ARC events.
This support aims to elevate regional motorsport standards in line with FIA requirements.
For the Burundi ARC, there are 11 technical officials on the ground, made possible through the Kenya Airways partnership. They are Magdalene Wambui Kiiru (Assistant Event Secretary/Sec of Stewards).
Tuta Caroline Mionki (Chairperson of Stewards), Adon Negamiye (COC Burundi), Salim Qadir Abdulgani (ASN Delegate), Harjit Singh Sagoo (Tracking), Musa Locho (Technical Delegate), Viren Goricha (FIA Technical Delegate), Rajwinder Singh Jutley (Assistant CMO), Kevin Kiarie Mwinga (Office of PS), Gurvinder Singh Bala (Deputy COC), Anthony Kiprotich Githu (Tracking), Rufus Nganga Njihia (Tracking),
OVERALL RESULTS AFTER SS15 VYERWA 3 [POWER STAGE] – 2.40 KM – 16. 8. 13:27
1 #102Samman Singh Vohra – Drew Sturrock (Škoda Fabia Rally2 evo) 1:44:21.4
- #101 Yasin Nasser – Ali Katumba (Ford Fiesta Rally2) 1:54:49.1
3.#4 Roshanali M. – Bigirimana C. (Subaru Impreza WRX STi 4) 2:02:57.9
- 3 Massoud Fahad – Yunus Mohamed (Subaru Impreza STi N12B) 2:07:32.1
- 12 Faida P. – Malherbe Icishatse G. (Subaru Impreza STi N11 -BUR) 2:10:39.2
- 5 Alim Awandin – Ntibandetse C. (Subaru Impreza-BUR) 2:55:56.7
- 9 Nkurunziza L. – Muremeshangabo A. (Toyota Celica-BUR) 3:03:27.6
- 10 Azaad Adeel – Heam Alexandre (Toyota Starlet Glanza-BUR) 3:07:38.7
- #7 Christian Remezo – Remezo S. (Toyota Celica AT200-BUR) 3:16:09.9
10.#103 Prince Nyerere – Nyerere C. (Mitsubishi Lancer Evo X-TZ) 3:17:08.1
- #6 Prince Basabose – Nkurunziza C. (Peugeot 106-BUR) 3:22:31.9
