{"id":54739,"date":"2025-07-02T15:38:31","date_gmt":"2025-07-02T15:38:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/bpr-bank-drivers-buoyant-ahead-of-rwanda-mt-gorilla-rally\/"},"modified":"2025-07-02T15:36:14","modified_gmt":"2025-07-02T15:36:14","slug":"bpr-bank-drivers-buoyant-ahead-of-rwanda-mt-gorilla-rally","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/bpr-bank-drivers-buoyant-ahead-of-rwanda-mt-gorilla-rally\/","title":{"rendered":"BPR Bank drivers buoyant ahead of Rwanda Mt. Gorilla Rally"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The high-octane event has received a major boost from BPR Bank, which has  committed Rwf 40 million to support four standout drivers: reigning ARC champion  Karan Patel, Nikhil Sachania, Uganda\u2019s Michael Muluka, and Rwanda\u2019s celebrated  female rally star Queen Kalimpinya. <\/p>\n<p>Speaking ahead of the event, BPR Managing Director, Patience Mutesi said: \u201cOur  continued support for motorsport is a testament to our commitment to nurturing talent,  promoting diversity, and elevating the sport to greater heights. The Rwanda leg presents another exciting opportunity for our drivers to showcase their skill and  resilience on the continental stage.\u201d <\/p>\n<p>Karan Patel and his navigator, Tauseef Khan, will face a fierce battle as they go head to-head with Uganda\u2019s Yasin Nasser, who currently leads the Africa Rally Championship standings with 63 points. Hot on his heels are Kenyan drivers Nikhil Sachania and Carl Tundo, tied in second place with 50 points each.  <\/p>\n<p>Fellow Kenyan Jeremiah Wahome holds fourth place with 42 points, closely followed  by Samman Vohra on 36 points. Karan Patel currently sits sixth in the rankings with 35  points, as he looks to climb higher in the standings. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe are the defending champions of the African Rally Championship. The first two  rounds could have been better, but we have a point to prove in Rwanda. The terrain  has always favored us, so I think we are more than ready to fly the BPR brand high at  the event that will be graced by top rally drivers on the continent,\u201d noted Karan Patel.  <\/p>\n<p>The much-awaited event is set to attract at least 35 drivers battling for glory in the 386- kilometer ride, which will kick off with the opening round at Kigali Convention Center before heading to Bugesera for another two rounds of battle on the dusty roads of Gako and Nemba. <\/p>\n<p>The Rwanda Mountain Gorilla Rally, known originally as the Fraternity Rally, is an  international rally racing event organised by the Rwanda Automobile Club. <\/p>\n<p>The rally is  based in the Rwandan capital of Kigali. The event is a round of the African Rally  Championship and the Rwandan National Rally Championship. <\/p>\n<figure class=\"spip-document spip-document-90204\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/en-images.igihe.com\/jpg\/bpr_12-aa80b.jpg\" alt=\"Karan Patel currently sits sixth in the rankings with 35  points, as he looks to climb higher in the standings. \" \/><\/figure>\n<figure class=\"spip-document spip-document-90202\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/en-images.igihe.com\/jpg\/bpr_6-4eb52.jpg\" alt=\"The high-octane event has received a major boost from BPR Bank, which has  committed Rwf 40 million to support four standout drivers. \" \/><\/figure>\n<figure class=\"spip-document spip-document-90201\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/en-images.igihe.com\/jpg\/bpr_5-27938.jpg\" alt=\"BPR Bank takes great pride in sponsoring the rally.\" \/><\/figure>\n<figure class=\"spip-document spip-document-90200\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/en-images.igihe.com\/jpg\/bpr_4-714b4.jpg\" alt=\"The Rwanda Mountain Gorilla Rally, known originally as the Fraternity Rally, is an  international rally racing event organised by the Rwanda Automobile Club. \" \/><\/figure>\n<figure class=\"spip-document spip-document-90199\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/en-images.igihe.com\/jpg\/bpr_3-35a3f.jpg\" alt=\"The much-awaited event is set to attract at least 35 drivers battling for glory in the 386- kilometer ride, which will kick off with the opening round at Kigali Convention Center. \" \/><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>BPR Bank and KCB Racing Team drivers are gearing up for fierce competition in the  Rwanda Mountain Gorilla Rally, the third leg of the Africa Rally Championship (ARC), which is set to rev off from July 4 to 6 in Kigali.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":62,"featured_media":2000090203,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[75],"byline":[170],"hashtag":[],"class_list":["post-54739","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-homenews","byline-igihe"],"bylines":[{"id":170,"name":"IGIHE","slug":"igihe","description":"","image":{"id":0,"url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/?s=96&d=mm&f=y&r=g","alt":"Default avatar","title":"Default avatar","caption":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","sizes":[]},"user_id":8}],"contributors":[{"id":170,"name":"IGIHE","slug":"igihe","description":"","image":{"id":0,"url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/?s=96&d=mm&f=y&r=g","alt":"Default avatar","title":"Default avatar","caption":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","sizes":[]},"user_id":8}],"featured_image":{"id":2000090203,"url":"https:\/\/en-images.igihe.com\/IMG\/logo\/bpr_5-27938.jpg","alt":"","caption":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","width":0,"height":0,"sizes":{"thumbnail":{"url":"https:\/\/en-images.igihe.com\/IMG\/logo\/bpr_5-27938.jpg","width":1,"height":1},"medium":{"url":"https:\/\/en-images.igihe.com\/IMG\/logo\/bpr_5-27938.jpg","width":1,"height":1},"medium_large":{"url":"https:\/\/en-images.igihe.com\/IMG\/logo\/bpr_5-27938.jpg","width":1,"height":1},"large":{"url":"https:\/\/en-images.igihe.com\/IMG\/logo\/bpr_5-27938.jpg","width":1,"height":1},"full":{"url":"https:\/\/en-images.igihe.com\/IMG\/logo\/bpr_5-27938.jpg","width":0,"height":0}}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54739","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/62"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=54739"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54739\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2000090203"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=54739"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=54739"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=54739"},{"taxonomy":"byline","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/byline?post=54739"},{"taxonomy":"hashtag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/hashtag?post=54739"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}