- Ogier recovered from a hybrid unit fault
- He holds a double-digit lead heading into day two
- He beat Championship leader Kalle Rovanpera
Frenchman Sebastian Ogier had a brilliant start to his hunt for the WRC Safari Rally title, taking an early day one lead, after bouncing back from a minor setback at the start.
In an exciting and fun-filled day in Naivasha, Ogier showed his experience as he established a double-digit lead just three special stages into this seventh round of the FIA World Rally Championship.
A hybrid unit fault hindered the eight-time world champion late in the morning, however, slicing his buffer to just 2.5sec over team-mate Kalle Rovanperä before the midday service in Naivasha.
But that failed to deter Ogier, who gambled by carrying only one spare wheel aboard his Toyota GR Yaris for the repeated afternoon loop.
Those weight-saving tactics clearly worked wonders as he romped to a hat-trick of benchmark stage times, ending the day 22.8sec clear of Rovanperä at the sharp end of a Toyota 1-2-3.
Kalle Rovanperä was undeterred by being first on the road on Friday
“It’s been a good day. Except for the hybrid issue this morning we had a perfect day, so we can be happy,” he said.
Championship leader Rovanperä found understeer an issue particularly over the second half of the day, the road-opening Finn forced to pave a new line in the rutted sandy tracks. His colleague Elfyn Evans completed the early podium 20.7sec behind on a day which the Welshman admitted he approached too cautiously.
Neuville leading Hyundai charge
Kalle Rovanpera in action. PHOTO/WRC
Thierry Neuville had been Hyundai’s leading light for much of the day but the Belgian retired in the penultimate test when a heavy compression destroyed the front-left suspension on his i20 N. Safari debutant Esapekka Lappi, driving a similar car, inherited the position and trailed Evans by 10.5sec at close of play, passing Takamoto Katsuta in the process.
Elfyn Evans holds onto third place following Friday’s action
Katsuta donned his mechanics gloves after SS3 to replace a damaged steering arm on his Toyota. He heads sixth-placed Hyundai man Dani Sordo by just 9.0sec approaching Saturday after a dramatic finale saw him clip a tree branch and also sustain tyre damage.
M-Sport Ford drivers Ott Tänak and Pierre-Louis Loubet had a day to forget. Both lay several minutes back from the lead in seventh and eighth overall after carrying out mid-stage wheel changes, although their second-tier colleague Grégoire Munster gave the British team something to smile about by leading the WRC2 category from Kajetan Kajetanowicz in a Fiesta Rally2.
Roads further north around Lake Elmenteita host Saturday’s monster 150.88km route, the longest of the weekend.
Meanwhile in the WRC III category where most Kenyan drivers are competing, FIA Junior WRC regular Diego Dominguez has been left with a commanding lead after midday leader Hamza Anwar picked up three punctures on the final stage of the afternoon, seeing the Kenyan hopeful drop more than 15 minutes.
Anwar suffers punctures and loses lead
Hamza Anwar raises the dust. PHOTO/WRC
Anwar began the day 9.9sec down on overnight leader Dominguez in the all-Ford Fiesta Rally3 class but surged into the lead by midday when he went 42.9sec clear of his Paraguayan rival on the final stage of the morning loop. Dominguez opted for a cautious approach to the Kedong stage, having seen his rally end there 12 months prior.
It was a lead that Anwar, himself a Junior WRC regular, maintained through the opening two stages of the afternoon loop – but his luck unravelled on the second pass of Kedong as he limped through the flying finish after puncturing both his front tyres early in the stage. His misfortune did not end there however, with another puncture coming soon after and no more spares to rely on.
That propelled Canada’s Jason Bailey into second spot, albeit 4min 40.7sec down on Dominguez, whilst 2022 Junior WRC competitor McRae Kimathi moved into podium position a further 5min 32.8sec behind.
Despite the large time gaps, none of the drivers will be feeling out of contention just yet, with 12 stages yet to run and Safari Rally Kenya’s notoriously high attrition rate to factor in.
Additional information courtesy WRC Website
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