TOYOTA GAZOO Racing World Rally Team made a strong start to Safari Rally Kenya in challenging conditions on Thursday with Oliver Solberg claiming the early advantage ahead of his team-mates.
After completing their reconnaissance of the stages earlier this week, crews are anticipating even more extreme conditions than in previous years on the only African round of the championship. Heavy rain has contributed to make rougher and more rutted roads, and is forecast to create slippery surfaces throughout the rally.
The pre-event shakedown took place on Thursday morning in dry conditions close to the Naivasha service park, giving teams and drivers a chance to check car systems and settings before the start.
The action then began for real in the afternoon with one of the longest and most demanding stages of the rally, the 24.35 kilometres of Camp Moran, which was made especially difficult by rain and mud. Solberg stormed to the first stage win of the rally by a margin of exactly 30 seconds over team-mate Elfyn Evans.
The second stage of Mzabibu was shorter – at 8.86 km – and drier. Here, Sébastien Ogier set the fastest time by 0.4s over Sami Pajari with Takamoto Katsuta third. Solberg was fourth, increasing his rally lead to 33.3s over Evans.
Ogier and Katsuta are just over a minute back in third and fourth overall, with Pajari rounding out a top-five lockout for the GR YARIS Rally1.
On his first rally driving the GR Yaris Rally2, Gus Greensmith leads the WRC2 category in 10th overall.
Quotes:
Juha Kankkunen (Deputy Team Principal)
“This was a very tricky start to the rally, I must say. This time maybe the luck was on our side with the timing of the weather, because I think our drivers at the front like Oliver and Elfyn managed to get through a little bit drier, but it was still very difficult. All our drivers did a good job: Seb and Sami had full rain, and Taka had to drive without pacenotes. They all set good times on the next stage and are all in a good position, so we’re very happy with how the rally has started. We know that tomorrow will be a longer day, so let’s see what happens.”
Elfyn Evans (Driver car 33)
“It’s been a very demanding start to the rally. We kind of expected it would be tough anyway, and then the rain came down and made things even more difficult. I struggled to see clearly in places with a lot of mud on the windscreen, but it’s still very early in this rally and anything can happen. We just have to try to keep using our heads as much as possible, but it will be a tricky balance like always here between pushing and looking after things.”
Sébastien Ogier (Driver car 1)
“With the rain that we faced in the first stage, I think we can be happy to be only a minute from the lead. Those starting around us lost a minute more than we did, so it looks as though we did a decent job to get through those particular conditions. Of course, it’s hard to start a rally by losing time but the only thing we can do is not give up and try to make the best of the situation, and I believe many things will still happen during the weekend.”
Oliver Solberg (Driver car 99)
“I gained much more time than I expected in the first stage. The conditions were so tricky, switching from dry to full mud and standing water. We had a good rhythm and it was a clean stage for us and the time was obviously quite good, so I’m very happy for now. However, we know it’s a very long rally and the conditions will be changing all the time. We’ll have to do this crazy stage again first thing in the morning, so we’ve just got to be smart and keep the same rhythm and see what’s possible.”
Takamoto Katsuta (Driver car 18)
“This first stage was a huge challenge for us. Just before the start, we lost the connection between Aaron and me and, after trying everything, we had to drive the stage without pacenotes. It was very difficult but I tried my best with the driving and Aaron was doing his best with the hand signals. It was not an ideal start but we managed OK and it could have been worse. There’s still a long way to go and tomorrow’s stages will be tricky, so we will just keep trying our best.”
Sami Pajari (Driver car 5)
“The conditions in the first stage were probably more difficult than anything I experienced here last year, and it was maybe the most tricky stage I have ever driven. The time loss was quite big but the cars behind me were losing even more time. It was a tricky start but I already had a much better feeling on the second stage, only just missing the stage win, and we’ll try to continue like this tomorrow depending on the conditions we face.”
End of day one (Thursday):
1 Oliver Solberg/Elliott Edmondson (Toyota GR YARIS Rally1) 30m18.6s
2 Elfyn Evans/Scott Martin (Toyota GR YARIS Rally1) +33.3s
3 Sébastien Ogier/Vincent Landais (Toyota GR YARIS Rally1) +1m05.1s
4 Takamoto Katsuta/Aaron Johnston (Toyota GR YARIS Rally1) +1m15.3s
5 Sami Pajari/Marko Salminen (Toyota GR YARIS Rally1) +2m06.4s
6 Thierry Neuville/Martijn Wydaeghe (Hyundai i20 N Rally1) +2m21.9s
7 Jon Armstrong/Shane Byrne (Ford Puma Rally1) +2m32.2s
8 Adrien Fourmaux/Alexandre Coria (Hyundai i20 N Rally1) +2m38.1s
9 Esapekka Lappi/Enni Mälkönen (Hyundai i20 N Rally1) +2m52.9s
10 Gus Greensmith/Jonas Andersson (Toyota GR Yaris Rally2) +3m42.5s
(Results as of 18:30 on Thursday, for the latest results please visit www.wrc.com)
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