Hannu Mikkola of Finland and Gunnar Palm of Sweden were officially declared winners of the 20th East African Safari Rally in Dar es Salaam on Monday (April 3). Theirs was the first victory for overseas drivers in the gruelling four-day event. They lost a total of 553 points.

A Polish team - Sobieslav Zasada and Marien Bien just beat the highest placed African drivers, Vic Preston and Bev Smith of Kenya, into second place, by a two-point margin. The Poles lost 581 points; the Kenyans 583.

The East African Safari Rally is the toughest of all international motor rallies - with a 3,750-mile (6,000 km) course through the three East African countries, Tanzania, Uganda and Kenya.

The winning car, the third and the fourth were all Ford Escorts.

The Polish tea - in second place - drove a Porsche.

SYNOPSIS: A big welcome at the finish ramp Monday for the highest-placed African team in the toughest of all international motor rallies: the East African Safari Rally. Vic Preston and Bev Smith of Kenya finished third.

Just beating them into second place were the Polish drivers of car 12. Sobieslav Zasada and Marien Bien. Their Porsche was the only car to split the Escorts' dominance of the first four placings.

And the overall winners: Hannu Mikkola of Finland and Gunnar Palm of Sweden: the first overseas drivers to win the gruelling three-thousand-seven-hundred-and-fifty mile event. So they had good reason to celebrate....