Takamoto Katsuta took over the lead of Safari Rally Kenya for TOYOTA GAZOO Racing World Rally Team during a demanding and dramatic penultimate day.
Saturday’s stages around Lake Elmenteita have developed a fearsome reputation over recent years, often proving pivotal for the outcome of the event. Usually, the drama comes with an afternoon downpour, but this time the morning loop of three stages already proved challenging following overnight rain.
TGR-WRT drivers Oliver Solberg and Sébastien Ogier were separated by just one second at the head of the leaderboard at the start of the day, but Ogier conceded two minutes when he had to stop and change a wheel and tyre in the morning’s opening test, Soysambu. While Solberg was fastest in that first stage, Ogier fought back with stage wins in the next two tests.
Sharp rocks hidden in the mud meant a high risk of punctures and both Solberg and Elfyn Evans would reach the end of the day’s second stage Elmenteita with a loss of tyre pressure. Evans then had to stop early in the following stage with damage to the rear-right suspension, retiring from the leg of a rally for the first time since Acropolis Rally Greece in 2024.
While Solberg and Ogier reached the end of the third and final stage of the loop – Sleeping Warrior – in first and second overall respectively, their cars would then have to be retired on the road section prior to mid-day service. The deep and thick mud was contributing to technical issues on all the different Rally1 cars, and had caused contamination to the alternator on both the cars of Solberg and Ogier, meaning their batteries stopped charging, with Solberg’s car also sustaining damage to the transmission. The team is preparing all three retired cars of Solberg, Ogier and Evans to restart the rally on Sunday.
Katsuta had started the morning in seventh overall after sustaining a double puncture on Friday afternoon, but now began Saturday afternoon as the rally leader. He drove well through the first two stages of the loop, increasing his margin to 1m25.5s before the second pass of Sleeping Warrior was cancelled on safety grounds due to the deteriorated stage conditions.
Sami Pajari began the day in fourth overall but lost five minutes with significant tyre damage towards the end of SS12. With the team managing to repair the damage to his car during mid-day service, Pajari went on to score his fifth stage win of the rally in SS15 and move back up into third overall.
Quotes:
Juha Kankkunen (Deputy Team Principal)
“This morning was incredibly eventful and not in a good way for us, unfortunately. The last stage of the loop was very muddy and it seems some of that mud and dirt got into the alternator on the cars of Oliver and Seb. We also lost Elfyn in that stage: he damaged the rear because he couldn’t see the rock in the mud. But this is the Safari Rally and these things can happen. I’ve been here so many times that something like this doesn’t surprise me. The conditions have been so tough this year: the toughest in this modern era of the Safari. These cars are built to withstand a lot, but mud is difficult because it sticks everywhere and can affect the most simple parts, and we’ve seen our rivals’ suffering as well. We’ll get those cars repaired and all three guys should have great speed tomorrow. Taka meanwhile has driven really well today and he’s been on the podium here three times before, so he knows what he’s doing. It’s also good to see Sami back in the podium places tonight because he’s been driving well and was unlucky to lose so much time this morning.”
Elfyn Evans (Driver car 33)
“This morning started pretty well for us and things were going fine in the second stage as well, but we unfortunately got caught out by the layout of the end, hit a rock and picked up a double puncture. It looks like there was some more damage caused by the impact because in the next stage when we came to the first braking point, something gave way at the rear, and unfortunately there was no chance to continue. After a long run of events without retirements, it’s a huge disappointment of course, but it’s one of those things and we have to move on. Tomorrow we’ll be looking to get back at it and try to fight for some points.”
Sébastien Ogier (Driver car 1)
“We were having an eventful morning but we managed to complete the last stage of the loop with a good time, coming back into second position. Unfortunately, it looks like some of the mud got into our alternator and although we tried everything we could on the road section, we ran out of battery before we could get back to service. This has been the most extreme Safari Rally we’ve seen in recent years: considering that our team has a reputation for having the strongest car, today has proven just how tough this year’s rally is. Tomorrow there will be quite a few of us fighting for Super Sunday and Power Stage points and we’ll see what we can do.”
Oliver Solberg (Driver car 99)
“The morning had started really well: we were trying to be clean but still have good speed. The feeling in the car was good and we were able to extend our lead. Unfortunately, after that muddy third stage we had an issue and had to stop on the road section. This team is known to be the strongest and most reliable and unfortunately this was just one of those days where we got an issue. It’s hard in the moment, when you’re leading the rally and the car stops on the road section trying to get back to service, but we will come back with a big push tomorrow.”
Takamoto Katsuta (Driver car 18)
“Everybody knew that today would be very tough and that a lot of drama could happen. Of course, I would not have hoped for these difficulties to happen for our team-mates. Already in the morning I was just following my strategy of trying to stay away from problems, and in the afternoon I was really trying to manage the situation and avoid all the rocks. In a way it’s easier to be fighting for tenths of a second, and now it’s more about surviving which is not so enjoyable, but still the times have been quite OK. There’s still quite a long day ahead tomorrow and I will just stay focused and try my best to bring the car home.”
Sami Pajari (Driver car 5)
“I’m sure today has been an exciting day for the fans to follow, because you could never know what was going to happen next. We were not the only ones to face difficulties this morning, and I think we were lucky to get back to service with the damage we had. Thankfully the team could fix the car and the afternoon was quite positive for us, as we gained some positions and took another stage win. Tomorrow there will be drivers who retired today who have nothing to lose, but I will be very happy to have a clean day and reach the finish.”
End of day three (Saturday):
1 Takamoto Katsuta/Aaron Johnston (Toyota GR YARIS Rally1) 2h41m00.2s
2 Adrien Fourmaux/Alexandre Coria (Hyundai i20 N Rally1) +1m25.5s
3 Sami Pajari/Marko Salminen (Toyota GR YARIS Rally1) +5m29.1s
4 Esapekka Lappi/Enni Mälkönen (Hyundai i20 N Rally1) +6m18.5s
5 Robert Virves/Jakko Viilo (Škoda Fabia RS Rally2) +9m42.1s
6 Gus Greensmith/Jonas Andersson (Toyota GR Yaris Rally2) +10m37.4s
7 Fabrizio Zaldivar/Marcelo Der Ohannesian (Škoda Fabia RS Rally2) +10m43.8s
8 Andreas Mikkelsen/Jørn Listerud (Škoda Fabia RS Rally2) +11m24.4s
9 Diego Domínguez/Rogelio Peñate (Toyota GR Yaris Rally2) +11m57.8s
10 Oliver Solberg/Elliott Edmondson (Toyota GR YARIS Rally1) +18m21.0s
11 Sébastien Ogier/Vincent Landais (Toyota GR YARIS Rally1) +19m03.6s
13 Elfyn Evans/Scott Martin (Toyota GR YARIS Rally1) +27m39.9s
(Results as of 20:30 on Saturday, for the latest results please visit www.wrc.com)
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