Karan Patel and Tauseef Khan Complete an Unbeaten ARC Season in Tanzania

Karan Patel and Tauseef Khan left Morogoro with the African Rally Championship title, the Serengeti Rally victory and a perfect record from their 2026 campaign. The championship was decided before the first competitive stage, after their remaining title rivals withdrew. Patel and Khan then won the final round on the road, closing the season with four victories from four events.

The result gave the Kenyan pair a rare shape to their season. Patel’s third drivers’ crown joins the titles he won in 2022 and 2023. Khan secured his first African navigators’ championship alongside him. Patel became only the fourth driver in the ARC’s 45-year history to win at least three titles, joining an honour roll that includes Satwant Singh, Alain Ambrosino and Manvir Baryan.

Drivers and navigators are recognised separately in the continental standings, even when their season is built inside one car. Patel’s title records the pace he delivered across the rallies. Khan’s records the work that carried those runs through the notes and the changing roads. Their two championships therefore mark a shared campaign and two distinct achievements.

The championship was settled before the rally started

Aakif Virani and Zahir Shah were the only crew with a mathematical chance of denying Patel the title. Arrow Racing Team withdrew from the finale, saying it had chosen to protect its second place in the overall standings. That left Patel with an unassailable advantage before the final two days of competition began.

The timing shaped the story. Patel did not need the Tanzania result to become champion, and the withdrawal did not arrive as a consequence of his rally win. The title had already been confirmed. What followed was a separate test of the crew’s pace and focus, with the Kenyan pairing using the last round to finish the season on the top step.

Four victories across four very different rallies

The unbeaten sequence began at Safari Rally Kenya in March, where Patel and Khan completed the event for the first time since 2021 and won the ARC classification. The opening round began their run toward the continental crown, with the crew taking points from Kenya’s World Rally Championship event before heading into the Uganda, Rwanda and Tanzania rounds.

They then won the Pearl of Africa Uganda Rally and the Rwanda Mountain Gorilla Rally, carrying three ARC victories into the Tanzania finale. In Rwanda, Patel secured a fourth career Mountain Gorilla Rally victory. Morogoro became the fourth ARC win of 2026 and completed a campaign that asked the crew to adapt across different events and surfaces, then stay sharp after the title had been secured.

A fast start and a strong local result

Patel and Khan began the Tanzania finale with the fastest time on the Mkwawa qualifying stage. Their 1:58.1 over the 2.40-kilometre test put them ahead of local champion Ahmed Huwel and Manveer Birdi. The qualifying result let Patel choose his road position, and he selected fifth for the first day.

That short test was the first measured contest of the weekend. Huwel was 0.6 seconds behind Patel, with Birdi third. The qualifying winner had the choice of starting position under the ARC rules, and Patel chose a place directly behind Huwel on the road. It was a small decision with a clear context: the crew began its final event from a position selected after earning the fastest qualifying time.

The ARC classification also had an important home result. Manveer Birdi and Zubayr Piredina finished second in the continental event and won the corresponding Tanzanian National Rally Championship round. Ugandan crew Yasin Nasser and Ali Katumba placed third, with Huwel and Roheet Solanki fourth. The wider Serengeti Rally brought a larger domestic field to the stages around Morogoro.

Morogoro gave the title a local frame

The Serengeti Rally ran from 2 to 4 October around Morogoro and areas managed by Tanzania Forest Services. The event covered about 250 kilometres, including 186.81 kilometres of competitive stages. Its ARC field sat within a larger domestic rally, so the final weekend served both a continental championship and Tanzania’s own national series.

Birdi’s second place made him the highest-placed Tanzanian in the ARC classification. He also won the final Power Stage to collect five bonus points, and his home-round result added to a strong season in local competition. That detail gave the finale a second centre of gravity. Patel and Khan carried away the continental crowns, while the home crew made the most of its opportunity on familiar roads.

Birdi stopped the clock at 5:43.7 on the Power Stage, the fastest time of the five bonus-point crews. His result also topped the Tanzania NRC classification, where he finished ahead of Huwel and Kithin Marey. For the local championship, the finale was a national round with its own winner and order. For the ARC, it was the last test in a four-event season that Patel and Khan had already mastered.

A third title and a season without a missed win

The title tally places Patel among the championship’s most successful drivers. His first two crowns came in 2022 and 2023, and the 2026 title marked his return to the top after a three-year gap. Khan’s navigators’ title adds another milestone to the crew’s shared record. Across four rounds, their partnership produced four wins and left no event without a result at the front.

Their Tanzania finish had two meanings. It completed a run that had already secured the championship, and it brought the final rally win needed to make the record complete. The ARC season therefore ended with the champions confirmed before the start and the same crew proving the point on the road. For Patel and Khan, Morogoro supplied both the ceremony and the final evidence.