It was a long but fun weekend for members of the Land Rover Uganda Club who volunteered to be part of the Pearl of Africa Rally that ran from the 6th to 8th May 2022. The 2022 edition only returned after a two-year hiatus because of the Coronavirus pandemic that ravaged the entire world.

The rally weekend kicked off with a Shakedown at Namataba, located a few kilometres from Lugazi town which was the main service park for all the rally competitors and service vehicles, off the Jinja – Kampala Highway.

The Land Rover Uganda Club was the Official Vehicle Support Partner for this 23rd Edition of the Pearl of Africa Rally by providing First Intervention Vehicles (FIVs), some of the Safety cars, Route Openers and Sweepers during the rally event. All these are sometimes referred to as Safety cars. The primary function of the safety cars during a rally event is to check the route to ensure compliance with the safety plan and provide this information to Rally Control.

A ceremonial Flag-off for all the cars including the route openers was held at the Nile Resort Hotel in Namanve with a Parc Famme within the parking area at the hotel.

A Land Rover 300 Tdi pickup was allocated the role of 000 route opener with the other 14 Land Rovers that were allocated among the different roles of First Intervention and other Safety roles.

In a rally event like this one, the 000 or Triple Zero Car goes first (or equivalent) 30-40 minutes before First Car Due (FCD) followed by the Safety Delegate 20-40 minutes before FCD. Another Safety Delegate vehicle follows 20-40 minutes before FCD and finally the 0 / Zero Car 5-10 minutes before FCD.

The weather turned in favour of the Land Rovers when the Land Rover FIV and Safety team woke up to a heavy cloud of rain that started at 3 am in the night and continued until about 11 am. It was rain, rain and more rain. Inglorious rain. We put on our raincoats and safety boots at 4.30 am and started the day with very little sleep from the previous night. Deployments were made as early as possible because the first section of the route was to be flagged off at 7.30 am which meant that all the Safety Cars and Route Openers should have gone through that route before that time. The FIVs had to be deployed in time as well.

Because of the rainy weather that made roads muddy, but most affected the first section named Sheka Mehta, the first planned section of the day was cancelled by the FMU in agreement with the FIA delegates who saw that it was impassable to most of the cars except the Land Rover Defender that had route recced without a problem. And yes, that is what you get when route recce with a Land Rover, something the organisers realised on Day two of the rally and decided to make the 000 Land Rover the Double Zero car.

Either way, there was lots of Recovery, First Intervention Deployment, Safety Checks and Route Sweeps all done by the Land Rover Uganda Club team. Most of the Recovery and Breakdown Rescue trucks got stuck and were rescued by any of the First Intervention Land Rovers nearby.

It was fun-filled action with sleepless nights but a much-appreciated addition to the 23rd edition of the Pearl of Africa rally that will not be forgotten for a long time. As Dipu Ruparelia, the President of the Federation of Motorsports Clubs in Uganda (FMU) stated in his speech at the closing ceremony, the Land Rovers added colour to the rally event but also provided logistical support that was required during the duration of the rally.

The FIA safety delegates acknowledged the effort of the organisers to realize a much-improved safety rally. “For sure, Pearl rally is coming back. Safety has improved although a lot has to be done but at least there was an improvement. “Achieving a good safety was a long process which I was part of with my colleagues. And what I have seen shows that everybody is able to create an incident-free event,” said Nicholas Klinger, the FIA head of Safety.

Uganda has the biggest fan base on the continent and managing the crowds has always proved a challenge for a long time.

The weekend event was won by Uganda’s Jas Mangat and Joseph Kamya followed by Leroy and Urshlla Gomes from Zambia.