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2024 Safari Rally Kenya – Friday report
Kalle Rovanperä dominated Friday’s opening leg of Safari Rally Kenya to construct a 56.9-second lead on a dream day for his Toyota Gazoo Racing staff.
The Finn, winner of the FIA World Rally Championship for 2 years operating, was merely untouchable as he and co-driver Jonne Halttunen romped to quickest instances on all six of Friday’s rugged gravel pace checks round Lake Naivasha.
His team-mates Elfyn Evans and Takamoto Katsuta made it a GR Yaris 1-2-3, the Japanese marque capitalising on what unravelled right into a disastrous afternoon for rival staff Hyundai Motorsport after its drivers Esapekka Lappi and Ott Tänak bowed into retirement.
Lappi had been Rovanperä’s nearest challenger on the day’s midpoint, however a transmission failure sidelined his i20 N automotive within the first stage after service. That elevated Tänak to second till his related machine stopped within the following Geothermal take a look at with damaged steering after hitting a rock.
Evans and Katsuta have been readily available to choose up the items and full Toyota’s podium lockout. They have been break up by simply 3.9s after Evans moved forward within the remaining stage of the day.
“I’ve to be pleased with that,” Rovanperä smiled. “For positive, on the final one the circumstances have been fairly tough, and I feel from each automotive [the ruts] get a bit deeper in locations. I did not take any dangers and I used to be going round all of the stones to try to maintain the automotive in a single piece. I might have beloved to go even quicker, however at this level that is okay!”
Championship chief Thierry Neuville turned Hyundai’s solely hope, though the Belgian encountered troubles himself with tyre harm in SS3. The flailing rubber punched a gap in his Hyundai’s bodywork, forcing the Belgian and co-driver Martijn Wydaeghe to don goggles and dirt masks for the ultimate stage of the morning.
A extra optimistic afternoon noticed Neuville edge nearer to podium place. Crushed solely by Rovanperä in Kedong 2, he trails Katsuta by a mere 6.5s heading into Saturday’s penultimate leg.
M-Sport Ford’s Adrien Fourmaux needed to contend along with his Puma browsing on its sump guard in among the rougher sections, however he coped nicely to carry fifth after a comparatively clear day. The Frenchman ended virtually two minutes again from the lead with team-mate Grégoire Munster – contesting his first Safari in Rally1 equipment – the same distance behind.
With Oliver Solberg hampered by tyre troubles on his Toksport-entered Škoda Fabia RS, his team-mate Gus Greensmith constructed a commanding lead in WRC2 and likewise positioned seventh in a single day. Jourdan Serderidis, Kajetan Kajetanowicz and Solberg accomplished the highest 10.
Saturday is the longest day of the rally and options six levels totalling 160.96km. Up first is Soysambu, which begins at 08:01 (native).
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