Safari Rally Kenya Ogier Leads After SS13

The afternoon loop of the third day of Safari Rally Kenya has come to an end. Sebastien Ogier remains in the lead after the loop.

SS11, SOYSAMBU 2

Stage 11 would see Sebastien Ogier back on top. As Ogier set a time 6.4 seconds faster than Kalle Rovanperä to take the stage win. Takamoto Katsuta would finish third fastest on the stage, 5.7 seconds slower than Rovanperä. Elfyn Evans set the fourth fastest time on the stage, 2.7 seconds slower than Katsuta. Dani Sordo would round out the top five on the stage, finishing 7.8 seconds slower than Evans.

SS12, ELMENTEITA 2

Takamoto Katsuta would take the stage win on the 12th stage of Safari Rally Kenya. As Katsuta set a time 2.3 seconds faster than Sebastien Ogier to take his first stage win of the event. Thierry Neuville would finish with the third fastest time on the stage, 1 second slower than Ogier. Elfyn Evans set the fourth fastest time on the stage once again, setting a time 1.6 seconds slower than Neuville. Kalle Rovanperä would round out the top five on the stage, finishing 0.9 seconds slower than Evans.

SS13, SLEEPING WARRIOR 2

The third and final stage of the third day of Safari Rally Kenya would see Kalle Rovanperä take the stage win. Rovanperä would finish the stage with a time 13.1 seconds faster than Elfyn Evans. Sebastien Ogier set the third fastest time on the stage, 2.2 seconds slower than Evans. Takamoto Katsuta would finish fourth on the stage, 16.6 seconds slower than Ogier. WRC2 driver Oliver Solberg would round out the top five on the stage, finishing 21.3 seconds slower than Katsuta. 

Trouble For Lappi

Esapekka Lappi would unfortunately be forced to retire on SS11. This would come as a result of a technical issue. Lappi sat third overall heading into SS11. With 49.7 seconds separating him and Elfyn Evans who sat in fourth, and 56.3 seconds between him and Kalle Rovanperä who sat in second. This is a rather unfortunate result for both Lappi and Hyundai. As this was Lappi’s first time at Safari Rally Kenya, and Hyundai needed the manufactures points. Now it looks like Toyota will once again take home all three podium spots.

What To Expect For Day Four

The fourth and final day of Safari Rally Kenya will once again feature 6 special stages. Sebastien Ogier leads Kalle Rovanperä by 16.7 seconds heading into the day. Toyota could get Ogier and Rovanperä to swap positions tomorrow. As Rovanperä needs the championship points more than Ogier at this point. Takamoto Katsuta and Elfyn Evans will likely take tomorrow a bit easier. As over 2 minutes separate Evans from Rovanperä, and a minute separates Katsuta from Dani Sordo. Just 16.7 seconds separate Evans and Katsuta, but Katsuta and Evans will likely just let each other race their own race and not try to move up in time. 

Safari Rally Kenya Day Three Morning Loop Recap

The morning loop of the third day of Safari Rally Kenya has come to an end. Sebastien Ogier would remain in the lead after the loop. 

SS8, SOYSAMBU 1

Stage eight of Safari Rally Kenya would see Sebastien Ogier take yet another stage win. Ogier would set a time 7.6 seconds faster than Kalle Rovanperä to take the stage win. Esapekka Lappi finished third on the stage, 19.2 seconds slower than Rovanperä. Takamoto Katsuta set the third fastest time on the stage, 7.8 seconds slower than Lappi. Ott Tänak would round out the top five on the stage, finishing 0.3 seconds slower than Katsuta. 

SS9, ELMENTEITA 1

Stage nine would finally see somebody other than Sebastien Ogier take a stage win. As Kalle Rovanperä would take the win on stage nine of Safari Rally Kenya. With Rovanperä finishing 0.6 seconds faster than Sebastien Ogier to take the win. Elfyn Evans would finish with the third fastest time on the stage, 1.6 seconds slower than Ogier. Esapekka Lappi set the fourth fastest time on the stage, 0.9 seconds slower than Evans. Takamoto Katsuta would round out the top five on the stage, finishing 2.6 seconds slower than Lappi.

SS10, SLEEPING WARRIOR 1

The third and final stage of the third day’s morning loop would see Kalle Rovanperä take the stage win once again. Rovanperä set a time 3.5 seconds faster than Esapekka Lappi to take the stage win. Sebastien Ogier finished with the third fastest time on the stage, 4.2 seconds slower than Lappi. Elfyn Evans set the fourth fastest time on the stage, finishing 14.5 seconds slower than Ogier. Takamoto Katsuta would round out the top five on the stage, finishing 0.7 seconds slower than Evans. 

Trouble For Evans

Elfyn Evans would experience a slight setback on SS8. This setback would be caused by a water crossing. Evans would hit a semi-deep water crossing just the wrong way, causing his Yaris to stall as a result. Evans would lose about 40 seconds to Esapekka Lappi because of the stall. Evans would fall to fourth overall and promote Lappi to third due to the time loss.

Safari Rally Kenya Day Two Afternoon Loop Recap

The second day of Safari Rally Kenya has come to an end. Grégoire Munster leads the WRC2 class after the day.

SS2, LOLDIA 1

Oliver Solberg would take the top step on the second stage of Safari Rally Kenya. Solberg would set a time 33.9 seconds faster than Kajetan Kajetanowicz to take the win. Grégoire Munster would finish third on the stage, finishing 9.3 seconds slower than Kajetanowicz. Martin Prokop would set the fourth fastest time on the stage, finishing 10.6 seconds slower than Munster. Armin Kremer would round out the top five on the stage, finishing 2.7 seconds slower than Prokop. 

SS3, GEOTHERMAL 1

Stage Three would see Oliver Solberg take his third consecutive stage win. Solberg would set a time 11.5 seconds faster than Kajetan Kajetanowicz to take the stage win. Grégoire Munster would finish third on the stage, finishing 6.2 seconds slower than Kajetanowicz. Martin Prokop would once again finish fourth on the stage, finishing 11.5 seconds slower than Kajetanowicz. Armin Kremer would round out the top five on the stage, finishing 12 seconds slower than Prokop.

SS4, KEDONG 1

If you guess Oliver Solberg won stage four of Safari Rally Kenya, you’d be correct. As Solberg would set a time 51.2 seconds faster than Grégoire Munster to take the stage win. Kajetan Kajetanowicz would finish third on the stage, 37.5 seconds slower than Munster. Armin Kremer would set the fourth fastest time on the stage, finishing 6.4 seconds slower than Kajetanowicz. Martin Prokop would round out the top five, finishing 12.9 seconds slower than Kremer. 

SS5, LOLDIA 2

Oliver Solberg would also take the stage win on SS5. Solberg would finish the stage 21.1 seconds faster than Grégoire Munster to win the stage. Kajetan Kajetanowicz would finish third on the stage, 2 seconds slower than Munster. Martin Prokop would set the fourth fastest time on the stage, finishing 18.5 seconds slower than Kajetanowicz. Armin Kremer would round out the top five on the stage, finishing 19.4 seconds slower than Prokop. 

SS6, GEOTHERMAL 2

Oliver Solberg would once again take the stage win on the sixth stage of Safarj Rally Kenya. With Solberg setting a time 6.9 seconds faster than Kajetan Kajetanowicz to take the stage win. Grégoire Munster would finish third fastest on the stage, 0.7 seconds slower than Kajetanowicz. Martin Prokop would set the fourth fastest time on the stage, 17.3 seconds slower than Munster. Armin Kremer would round out the top five, finishing 5.1 seconds slower than Prokop.

SS7, KEDONG 2

Stage seven of Safari Rally Kenya would finally see somebody other than Oliver Solberg win the stage. As Grégoire Munster would take the stage win. Munster would set a time 3.9 seconds faster than Kajetan Kajetanowicz to take the stage win. Martin Prokop would finish third on the stage, 1 minute and 19.8 seconds slower than Kajetanowicz. Carl Tundo would set the fourth fastest time on the stage, finishing 14 seconds slower than Prokop. Aakif Virani would round out the top five on the stage, finishing 2 minutes and 3.4 seconds slower than Tundo. 

Puncture For Solberg

Oliver Solberg would suffer a puncture on SS7. The puncture would ultimately cause too much damage to his car and he would be forced to retire from the day. Solberg does plan on restarting the rally on day three, so prepare to see more Oliver Solberg stage wins. Fortunately for Solberg, this setback doesn’t cost him much. As Solberg elected to not score points at the Safari Rally Kenya. This is a result of Solberg wanting to win the WRC2 championship against a more stacked field of WRC2 drivers. 

Safari Rally Kenya Day One Recap

The second day of the Safari Rally Kenya has come to an end. Sébastien Ogier would retain his lead over Kalle Rovanperä. 

SS5, LOLDIA 2

Stage five of Safari Rally Kenya would once again see Sébastien Ogier on top. Ogier would set a time 8.4 seconds faster than Esapekka Lappi to take the stage win. Ott Tänak would finish third on the stage, 1.8 seconds slower than Lappi. Elfyn Evans would set the fourth fastest time on the stage, finishing 0.3 seconds slower than Tänak. Dani Sordo would round out the top five, finishing 0.9 seconds slower than Evans. 

SS6, GEOTHERMAL 2

The sixth stage of Safari Rally Kenya would see Sébastien Ogier take his second consecutive stage win. Ogier would set a time 1.2 seconds faster than Esapekka Lappi to take the stage win. Kalle Rovanperä would finish third on the stage, 1.4 seconds slower than Lappi. Elfyn Evans would set the fourth fastest time on the stage, finishing 0.5 seconds slower than Rovanperä. Takamoto Katsuta would round out the top five on the stage, finishing 0.6 seconds slower than Evans.

SS7, KEDONG 2

The seventh and final stage of the second day of Safari Rally Kenya would see Sébastien Ogier take his third consecutive stage win. Ogier would finish 2.4 seconds faster than Kalle Rovanperä to take home the stage win. Esapekka Lappi would finish third on the stage, 0.9 seconds slower than Rovanperä. Elfyn Evans would set the fourth fastest time on the stage, finishing 7.1 seconds slower than Lappi. Ott Tänak would round out the top five on the stage, finishing 10.9 seconds slower than Evans. 

Trouble For Neuville

Thierry Neuville would be the first major player caught out by Safari Rally Kenya. As Neuville would break his suspension on SS6. This was a rather unfortunate break for Neuville who sat fourth, 5.3 seconds back from Elfyn Evans heading into the stage. Neuville will likely be back out on the stages tomorrow.

What To Expect From Day Three

There’s still plenty of racing to be had at the Safari Rally Kenya. Sebastien Ogier holds a nice 22.8-second lead over Kalle Rovanperä. Expect Rovanperä to try and close that gap down to the low teens tomorrow. Elfyn Evans sits rather comfortably in third, as Esapekka Lappi sits 10.5 seconds behind him and Rovanperä sits 20.7 seconds ahead of him. Lappi will likely look the close the gap between him and Evans to try and get on the podium in his first-ever Safari Rally Kenya. Takamoto Katsuta will also likely be looking to close the gap between himself and Lappi down from 25.4 seconds. Both M-Sport Ford drivers are way behind the pack, but that doesn’t mean they’re out of the race. As in Kenya you can lose 10 seconds on a stage and gain 30 on the next. It’s a battle of endurance more than it is a battle of time. Nonetheless, Tänak and Loubet will have a hard time coming back if they wanted to.

Safari Rally Kenya Day Two Loop One Recap

The first loop of the second day of the Safari Rally Kenya has come to an end. Sebastien Ogier leads the pack after SS4.

SS2, LOLDIA 1

Sebastien Ogier would take the first full-stage win of Safari Rally Kenya. Ogier would finish with a time 7.5 seconds faster than Kalle Rovanperä who would place second on the stage. Elfyn Evans set the third fastest time on the stage, finishing 0.9 seconds slower than Rovanperä. Thierry Neuville finished with the fourth fastest time on the stage, finishing 0.3 seconds slower than Evans. Takamoto Katsuta would round out the top five on the stage, finishing 0.9 seconds slower than Neuville.

SS3, GEOTHERMAL 1

Stage three of Safari Rally Kenya would see Esapekka Lappi take the win. Lappi would set a time 1.2 seconds faster than Sebastien Ogier to take the stage win. Takamoto Katsuta would finish with the third fastest time on the stage, finishing 1.1 seconds slower than Ogier. Kalle Rovanperä set the fourth fastest time on the stage, finishing 1 second slower than Katsuta. Elfyn Evans would round out the top five on the stage, finishing 1.1 seconds slower than Rovanperä.

SS4, KEDONG 1

Kalle Rovanperä would take the stage win on the third and final stage of the first loop on day two of Safari Rally Kenya. Rovanperä would set a time 8 seconds faster than Thierry Neuville to win the stage. Rally leader Sebastien Ogier would finish third on the stage, 1.4 seconds slower than Neuville. Elfyn Evans set the fourth fastest time on the stage, finishing 4.7 seconds slower than Ogier. Dani Sordo would round out the top five on the stage, finishing 7.9 seconds slower than Evans. 

Zebra Crossing

Safari Rally Kenya is unique in many different ways. One of those ways the rally is unique is the amount of wildlife around and on the event’s stages. Ott Tänak would be the first to get a taste of that wildlife this weekend. As Tänak would lose 6 or so seconds on SS2 due to Zebra’s being in the road. 

Trouble For M-Sport

Ott Tänak came into day two of Safari Rally Kenya with a 0.1-second lead over Sebastien Ogier. Unfortunately, Tänak wouldn’t have much luck on the opening loop of day two. As Tänak would encounter a Zebra crossing on SS2 as previously mentioned as well as a puncture and engine issues on SS4. This would ultimately rob us of a chance to see Ogier and Tänak battle it out during the second day of the event, and maybe even longer. Pierre-Louis Loubet would also experience engine issues on day two. With Loubet experiencing them on the opening stage of the day. It’s unknown if the engine issue was the same for both Tänak and Loubet.

Trouble For Lappi

Esapekka Lappi would take home one stage win on the opening loop. Unfortunately, Lappi wasn’t able to keep his luck heading into the following stage. As Lappi would suffer a puncture on the stage, costing him about 30 seconds in time. 

What To Expect From This Afternoon

Day two of Safari Rally Kenya still has three more stages to run. All of which are repeats of the first three stages of the day. It’s expected the stages will be more rutted, and harder to drive for the drivers. Expect a few drivers to try and move up the leaderboard this afternoon. Namely Ott Tänak who will be looking to have a strong result after only taking home 4 points in Sardegna last month. Kalle Rovanperä and Sebastien Ogier will likely battle it out all afternoon, with both drivers wanting to be first at the end of the day. 

Safari Rally Kenya Tänak Leads After Day One

The first day of the Safari Rally Kenya has come to an end. Kajetan Kajetanowicz leads the WRC2 after the day, with a 0.8-second lead over Grégoire Munster.

Shakedown

Oliver Solberg set the fastest time on the Safari Rally Kenya shakedown stage. Solberg finished with a time 9.5 seconds faster than Kajetan Kajetanowicz. Grégoire Munster set the third fastest time on the shakedown stage, finishing 4.1 seconds slower than Kajetanowicz. Karan Patel finished with the fourth fastest time on the shakedown stage, 5.4 seconds slower than Munster. Martin Prokop round out the top five on the shakedown stage, finishing 1.9 seconds slower than Patel.

SSS1, SUPER SPECIAL KASARANI

The first stage of the Safari Rally Kenya would see WRC2 championship favourite Oliver Solberg take the stage win. Solberg set a time 3.2 seconds faster than Kajetan Kajetanowicz to take the early lead. Grégoire Munster set the third fastest time on the stage, finishing 0.8 seconds slower than Kajetanowicz. Martin Prokop finished with the fourth fastest time on the stage, finishing 1.4 seconds slower than Munster. Daniel Chwist would round out the top five on the stage, finishing 0.3 seconds slower than Prokop.

Are You Confused?

You may be a little confused why Kajetan Kajetanowicz leads the WRC2 class with Oliver Solberg winning the lone stage. Well, there’s a simple answer to that. Oliver Solberg had elected to not score WRC2 points at Safari Rally Kenya. Solberg elected to do this as he doesn’t want to be handed the WRC2 championship if he wins it. He wants to race and score points at events with a packed WRC2 field. Due to Solberg not scoring points, Kajetanowicz leads the WRC2 point scorers at the event. 

Safari Rally Kenya WRC1 Day One Recap

The first day of the Safari Rally Kenya has come to an end. Ott Tänak leads the pack after the day, with a 0.1-second lead over Ogier. 

Shakedown

2022 Safari Rally Kenya winner Kalle Rovanperä would set the fastest time on the Shakedown stage. As Rovanperä would set a time 1.5 seconds faster than Ott Tänak. Sebastien Ogier set the third fastest time on shakedown, finishing 0.2 seconds slower than Tänak. Thierry Neuville finished with the fourth fastest time on the shakedown stage, finishing 0.2 seconds slower than Ogier. Elfyn Evans would round out the top five on the shakedown stage, finishing 0.1 seconds slower than Neuville.

SSS1, SUPER SPECIAL KASARANI

The first stage of Safari Rally Kenya would see Ott Tänak on top. As Tänak set a time 0.1 seconds faster than Sebastien Ogier to take an early lead. Kalle Rovanperä finished with the third fastest time on the stage, finishing 2.3 seconds slower than Ogier. Thierry Neuville would take fourth on the stage, finishing 0.3 seconds slower than Rovanperä. Eflyn Evans would round out the top five, finishing 0.6 seconds behind Neuville. Esapekka Lappi sits just 0.7 seconds behind Evans at the end of day one.

Trouble For Sordo

Dani Sordo would become the first driver to experience an issue at Safari Rally Kenya. Although it wasn’t a major one, it could still be costly down the road. As Sordo would receive a 10-second penalty for a false start. This would push the Hyundai driver down to 16th overall, 0.5 seconds behind Armin Kramer. If Sordo didn’t receive a penalty he would’ve been in 8th place, 0.8 seconds behind Takamoto Katsuta.

The 2023 World Rally Championship season continues this weekend with round seven Safari Rally Kenya.

Drivers’ Championship Rundown

Reigning World Rally Champion Kalle Rovanperä leads the 2023 Driver’s’ Championship currently. Rovanperä sits 25 points ahead of Thierry Neuville heading into Safari Rally Kenya. Ott Tänak sits third in the championship, eight points behind his former teammate. Elfyn Evans sits fourth in the championship, three points behind Tänak. Sebastien Ogier rounds out the top five in the championship, sitting 13 points behind Evans. The 2023 Drivers’ Championship is still a tight battle, as 25 points isn’t all that much. By Safari Rally Kenya last season we kinda already knew who was going to win the championship. This season we really don’t, Neuville still has a chance to take home his first, and Hyundai’s first drivers’ championship. Tänak also still has a chance to take home another championship. Chances are Rovanperä will win his second championship this season, but anything is possible.

Manufactures’ Championship Rundown

The Toyota Gazoo Racing World Rally Team currently leads this year’s Manufactures’ Championship. Toyota currently sits 23 points ahead of the Hyundai Shell Mobis World Rally Team heading into this weekend. The M-Sport Ford World Rally team currently sits 64 points behind Hyundai. M-Sport Ford will have a tough time getting back into the race for the Manufactures’ Championship, as they only have two drivers competing for points and one of them is regularly below fifth place. 

Itinerary

Safari Rally Kenya will see drivers race 19 stages totalling 356.98 kilometres. Throughout these 356.98km drivers will face a multitude of challenges, with the biggest being weather. One rainfall turns the dry Kenyan roads into a muddy mess. Teams and drivers know this all too well, as it happened last year. Safari Rally Kenya is probably the most difficult challenge for drivers, as if it does rain the rally turns into a drive to survive. The first day of the rally will see drivers compete in a 4.84km SuperSpecial. On the second day, drivers will be met with six stages, totalling 125.54km. Day three will see drivers face six more stages, totalling 150.88km. The fourth and final day will see drivers compete in six stages once again, this time totalling 75.72km. 

Earlier today the Hyundai Shell Mobis World Rally Team announced Teemu Suninen and Emil Lindholm have joined the team. 

Suninen Gets A Call-Up

Teemu Suninen has spent the 2 WRC seasons in a WRC2 car for Hyundai. This comes after Suninen moved from M-Sport Ford to Hyundai in 2021. Suninen was probably one of the better candidates to take over the empty seat on the third Hyundai i20. As Suninen has previous WRC1 experience, although not in a Hybrid car. Suninen has made 39 WRC1 appearances so far in his career. Placing top five at 8 of those events. His highest WRC1 finish came at the 2020 running of Rally Mexico where he would place third, 10.1 seconds behind Ott Tänak. In WRC2 Suninen has appeared in 31 rallies. Splitting time between Hyundai, M-Sport Ford and Team Oreca. Suninen has won 7 events at the WRC2 level and podiumed 17 times. He has also finished top three in the WRC2 championship twice, once in 2016 and again in 2017. 

Lindholm Changes Team

Reigning WRC2 champion Emil Lindholm will also be joining Hyundai, but not as a Rally1 driver. As Lindholm has joined the Hyundai Motorsport Driver Development Programme. This is a bit of a change of pace for Hyundai, who got rid of the Driver Development Programme last season. A programme which included 21-year-old Oliver Solberg, who is currently sitting second in the WRC2 championship, 13 points behind Yohan Rossel. Lindholm currently sits fourth in this year’s WRC2 championship, 18 points behind Gus Greensmith. Lindholm would finish third in WRC3 in the 2021 season, finishing 54 points behind Kajetan Kajetanowicz. Lindholm has spent most of his WRC2/WRC3 career in a Sköda Fabia F5 Evo. With his only season out of a Sköda coming in 2019 when he drove a Volkswagen for three events. 

Where Will They Debut?

Both Suninen and Lindholm will make their Hyundai debuts at Rally Estonia next month. Both drivers will also compete at their home rally in Finland in August. Other than those two events it’s unknown where Suninen and Lindholm will compete. Suninen will likely contest most of the remaining WRC rounds as Dani Sordo has already competed in 4 rounds so far this season. 

The World Rally Championship can be improved as can many things in the world, but there are a few that stand out above the rest.

Lack Of Manufacturers

The World Rally Championship in recent years has had a lack of manufacturers. As the championship only has three different teams to choose from at the top level. Those three being Toyota Gazoo Racing, Hyundai Shell Mobis and M-Sport Ford. It is worth noting early Toyota and Hyundai sit above M-Sport Ford in many ways, including budget. As the M-Sport Ford team spent most of their driver budget this season on bringing back Ott Tänak. The lack of manufacturers had made it harder for drivers to get a seat, with this season having only 10 drivers with a seat in WRC1 this season. Which is 3 less than last season, which saw 13 with a seat. Although the average amount of entrants per event has stayed the same for a while now, with about 10 drivers entering per event. 

Why Is This An Issue?

The main issue with this is it forces drivers who should be in a WRC1 seat into WRC2. Yes, this does make WRC2 more interesting, but it’s also limiting drivers’ potential in the WRC as well. With WRC2 being more competitive, and often having tighter finishes than WRC1 it has taken some people’s focus off the WRC1 class and turned the focus to the WRC2 class. Especially during events that aren’t close after the first day in the WRC1 class. Thankfully Rally Italia Sardegna was a battle right till the end pretty much. This kept things interesting throughout the event. The lack of competition has also made the title fight uninteresting to watch for about two decades now. As every season besides last WRC season, 2019, and 2020 you pretty much expected who would win. It was either Sebastien Loeb or Sebastien Ogier. With WRC2 it’s constantly interesting, you don’t know who’s going to likely win heading into the season. 

The Fix To This Issue

Well, there isn’t a simple fix for this issue. As it relies a lot on not only manufacturers but also drivers. Although adding another manufacturer would allow more drivers the opportunity to compete at the WRC1 level. It wouldn’t solve the competition issue immediately. It would take some time for the competition issue to potentially be solved. As it’ll take some time for a new set of drivers to get used to the Rally1 cars. Even after getting used to the Rally1 cars, there’s no guarantee that the drivers can compete with Rovanperä or whoever is at the top. There’s also no guarantee a new manufacturers’ car will be able to compete with the Toyota’s or Hyundai’s. The only real potential way to fix the manufacturer issue is to make the WRC more appealing to manufacturers. Right now competing in WRC1 or even WRC2 is really expensive for teams. With teams relying heavily on sponsorships.