Muyanja’s CRC Dream Gains Momentum After Soroti Victory
By Mwambazi Lawrence
If rallying was a classroom, Sharif Muyanja has just walked into the examination room, put his Toyota RunX in gear and told the rest of the CRC class, “Please keep your eyes on the blackboard.”
The Trademate-sponsored driver produced a commanding performance in the recently concluded KCB Soroti Rally, storming to victory in the Clubman Rally Championship class alongside co-driver Edward Kiyingi. After knocking on the CRC podium door for much of the season, Muyanja finally decided that enough was enough. In Soroti, he did not just knock he kicked the door open, walked inside and switched off the lights.
Driving his Toyota RunX under Hajji Rally Team (HRT), Muyanja showed impressive pace and consistency inboth Soroti and Katakwi stages, turning what had been a promising season into one that is now beginning to look seriously threatening for his CRC rivals.
The Soroti victory was no fluke. It followed an impressive run of performances that had already established Muyanja as one of the drivers to watch in the class. At the Masaka-Sembabule Rally, he and Kiyingi finished second in CRC, showing that the speed was there. All they needed was that elusive top step of the podium. In Soroti, they found it.
Second in Masaka. First in Soroti. At this rate, Muyanja may soon need to stop explaining to people that he is chasing the championship and simply start telling them where they can collect his autograph.
The victory was even more impressive because the Soroti Rally took competitors into the Teso sub-region for the first time, presenting crews with unfamiliar roads, different surfaces and the usual Ugandan rally question: “Who put that hole there?”
Teso offered fast roads, challenging corners and plenty of opportunities for drivers to discover whether their suspension was actually their friend or had secretly joined the opposition. Muyanja and Kiyingi kept their heads cool and the RunX pointed in the right direction, while their rivals battled the stages and, in some cases, the mechanical gremlins hiding underneath their cars.
That is the beauty and madness of rallying. You can spend days preparing a car, hundreds of thousands of shillings on fuel and tyres, and countless hours checking every nut and bolt, only for a tiny component worth less than the driver’s lunch to wake up on Saturday morning and announce, “Boss, I have retired.”
For Muyanja, however, everything appeared to be singing from the same hymn book. The Toyota RunX stayed together, Kiyingi’s notes kept coming, and the driver kept producing the times. In rallying terms, that is almost a miracle.
Muyanja has been steadily building his rallying career, moving from a Toyota Corolla where he was a codriver to his father Hajji Ahmed Senyonjo to the Toyota RunX and gaining valuable experience behind the steering whee .That background has given him a good understanding of rally strategy, pace notes and the fine art of surviving a weekend when the rally car has more mood swings than the crew and now that experience is beginning to translate into results.
The win in Soroti has given Muyanja something every championship contender desperately needs confidence and momentum. The CRC battle is far from over, but his latest performance has changed the conversation. He is no longer the driver people are watching to see whether he can reach the podium. He is now the driver they are watching to see whether he can win the championship.
Behind the scenes, there will also be plenty of work for HRT and the service crew. While fans see the smiling driver holding a trophy, mechanics see something completely different a Toyota RunX that needs to be checked, tightened, serviced and persuaded not to develop any expensive ideas before the next rally.
Muyanja will know that championships are not won by one good weekend. They are built through consistency, careful preparation and keeping the car in one piece. In rallying, finishing is sometimes the biggest victory because the road can humble even the fastest driver before the final stage.
For now, however, Muyanja has every reason to smile. Masaka gave him second place. Soroti gave him victory. The momentum is building, and the Trademate-sponsored HRT driver is increasingly looking like a serious contender for the 2026 CRC crown.
The CRC rivals have been warned. Masaka gave them a glimpse. Soroti gave them the trailer. Now Muyanja appears ready to release the full movie “The Road to CRC Glory.” And One thing is certain: if he continues driving like this, the CRC trophy may soon need to start learning how to pronounce Sharif Muyanja.
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