National Rally Champion Samman Vohra is on the brink of history as he prepares for a high-octane showdown with Uganda’s Yassin Nasser when the two go head-to-head in the decisive final stage of the 2025 African Rally Championship (ARC), which revs off on Friday.
The pair have turned the season into a two-horse title chase, separated by just eight points going into the grand finale.
Nasser, who has shown consistency all year, leads the championship standings on 114 points, with Vohra breathing down his neck on 106.
Paraplegic speedster Nikhil Sachania is a distant third on 77 points.
Neither Nasser nor Vohra has ever lifted the coveted continental crown, raising the stakes for what promises to be a nail-biting finish.
Defending champion Karan Patel, who dominated the series with back-to-back titles in 2023 and 2024, is already out of the title equation.
Mechanical gremlins wrecked his season, with the Kenyan star only managing one win, the Pearl of Uganda Rally, leaving him seventh overall on 35 points.
The battle lines between Vohra and Nasser were drawn back in March at the championship opener during the WRC Safari Rally, where veteran Carl “Flash” Tundo stole the show, topping the ARC standings in 2:23:30.7.
Jeremiah Wahome finished second (3:00:40.8), with Vohra third (3:19:19.6) and Nasser just missing the podium in fourth (3:27:15.6).
The second leg in Uganda saw Karan take victory (1:51:28.9), ahead of Nasser (2:04:21.6) and Sachania (2:07:48.4).
Vohra then hit back in style, piloting his Skoda Fabia Evo Rally2 to victory at the Mountain Gorilla Rally in Rwanda (1:48:59), while Nasser trailed in fourth (2:38:58).
Vohra carried that momentum into the Burundi Rally, storming to another emphatic win (1:44:21) as Nasser salvaged second in 1:54:59.
Flushed with confidence after his Burundian triumph, Vohra laid down the gauntlet ahead of the Tanzania finale.
"It's a tight race, one more round and it will be a nail-biting round, us against Yassin."
He notes that the margins were so tight that only one point could decide the winner.
"I think it's one point that it's one point that will decide our fate. Let's see how it goes. We are going to fight it out in Tanzania and may the best man win," Vohra said after the Burundi Rally.
With the margins so fine, the equation is clear: Vohra must deliver nothing short of a dominant victory in Tanzania, scoop maximum bonus points from the Power Stage and hope his Ugandan rival falters outside the podium.
But Nasser has history in his sights. A win would see him become the first Ugandan to be crowned African rally king since the late Charles Muhangi in 1999.
RALLY TANZANIA ENTRIES-ARC CATEGORY
1. Samman Singh Vohra/Drew Sturrock -KEN-UK (Skoda Fabia Evo Rally2)
2. Mohammed Roshanah Abbas/Christphe Bigirimana-BUR-BUR (Subaru Impreza)
3. Yasin Nasser/Ali Katumba -UGA-UGA (Ford Fiesta MKII Rally2)
4. Karan Patel/Tauseef Khan -KEN-KEN (Skoda Fabia Rally2)
5. Naveen Puligilla/Musa Sherrif -IND-IND (Ford Fiesta Rally3)
6. Ahmed Huwel/Roheet Solanki -TZA-TZA (Toyota GR Yaris Rally2)
7. Prince Charles Nyerere/Charles Nyerere -TZA-TZA (Mitsubishi EVOX)
FIA ARC DRIVERS POINTS AFTER BURUNDI
1 Yasin Nasser (UGA) 114pts
2 Samman Singh Vohra (KEN) 106pts
3 Nikhil Sachania (KEN) 77pts
4 Carl Tundo (KEN) 50pts
5 Prince Charles Nyerere (TAN) 47pts
6 Jeremiah Wahome (KEN) 42pts
7 Karan Patel (KEN) 35pts
8 Minesh Rathod (KEN) 24pts
9 Godfrey Kaguta (UGA) 21pts
