Kigali City (Rwanda), Jul 13: The Indian duo of Naveen Puligilla and co-driver Musa Sherif claimed a comfortable victory in the ARC3 class and also finished an impressive fourth overall in the 2026 Rwanda Mountain Gorilla Rally, the third round of the FIA African Rally Championship (ARC) here.
Team Duran Racing’s duo of Puligilla and Sherif punched well above their weight in their Ford Fiesta Rally3, prepared by MRU Motorsport Africa, and finished ahead of several more powerful cars in ARC2 class, in a field of 17 ARC entries from Rwanda, Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Burundi, Zimbabwe, Denmark and India.
“These gravel stages are tough and technical, but also very fast. It is one of the fastest rallies I have experienced. I am delighted with this win,” said Puligilla.
Touching speeds of nearly 170 kmph, Puligilla and Sherif dominated the ARC3 category by winning 12 of the 18 special stages.
Holding a comfortable lead of nearly two minutes, they eased their pace in the final two stages to seal a convincing class victory.
They completed the rally in 2 hours, 13 minutes and 48.3 seconds despite overcoming a mapping sensor issue during one of the special stages.
With this result, Puligilla, the reigning 2025 Indian National Rally Champion in the 3T class, and Sherif moved up to second place in the ARC3 championship standings.
The pair had already created Indian motorsport history in November 2025 by becoming the first all-Indian driver and co-driver combination to secure a podium finish in any FIA World Rally Championship category, finishing second in the WRC3 class at Rally Saudi Arabia.
The gruelling rally, held from July 10 to 12 on the demanding gravel roads of Rwanda’s Bugesera District, covered a total distance of 307.52km, including 252km of competitive stages spread across 18 special stages. (PTI)
