Winner of four stages out of six on Friday, Frenchman Sébastien Ogier took the lead in the Kenyan rally ahead of Finland’s Kalle Rovanperä, who could escape at the head of the world championship (WRC) after the misadventures of his pursuers.
Ogier is 22.8 seconds ahead of Rovanperä and 43.5 over Elfyn Evans, all three Toyota drivers, with six stages remaining on Saturday and as many on Sunday. Behind, the other pilots were able to verify the reputation of the Kenyan tracks, rocky or sandy but in any case merciless.
The Belgian Thierry Neuville (Hyundai) had to retire during the sixth special, the fault of a broken suspension, and could tumble in the general classification. Provisionally, he moved from 2nd to 4th place, overtaken by Evans and Ogier, while the latter only has a partial program this season and did not participate in the rallies in Sweden and Portugal.
Third in the championship before this 7th round of the season (out of 13), the Estonian Ott Tänak, yet leader of the Safari Rally after SS1 on Thursday, is the other loser of the day. First slowed down by zebras on SS2, the M-Sport Ford driver lost more than two minutes during SS4, the fault of a wheel change and engine problems. He then lost more time to finish three minutes behind Ogier.
The podium is now very far away for him, but not completely gone as everything seems possible in Kenya. Ogier and Rovanperä are well placed to know.
The 39-year-old Frenchman, eight-time world champion, won the event in 2021 for Kenya’s return to the WRC when he was more than two minutes behind. But in 2022 he had lost his mind after a puncture. The 22-year-old Finn, who became the youngest champion in history last year, took the opportunity to win when in 2021 he was stuck in the sand.
