Time then for round three of this year’s championship and crews head to the wilds of Kenya. Elfyn and Scott lead the championship standings from their part-time teammates, Seb and Vincent by almost 30 points.
Of course, the British duo in their GR Yaris hold a very good lead over the regular crews such as Kalle and Jonne, Thierry and Martijn and Ott and Martin.
The crews have an incredible 384km’s ahead of them over twenty-one stages. The longest day is Friday at 157km’s whilst Saturday has 146km’s in total.
Let’s hear from the drivers!
Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT
Elfyn Evans
“It’s been a good start to the year for us and we can be happy with how well the first two events have gone, but now the focus moves to gravel, where the learning starts again with another new tyre. While not representative of the roads in Kenya, our test last week was good familiarisation with this year’s specification of car on gravel and with the tyres. The Safari is a unique rally with a special set of conditions to face: it’s not easy even if it’s dry, but when you add the likelihood of rain and standing water, it can be a huge challenge just to get to the end. This has been an amazing rally for the team over recent years and while it’s not perhaps been my strongest event personally, we want to aim as high as possible and challenge for the win if it’s possible.”
Kalle Rovanperä
“It has not been the easiest start to our season, but we’re not too far from the fight and now we move onto gravel, it’s a new chance to push harder and try to get back to where we want to be. The team has been really strong so far, and we just need to put all the pieces together on our end so that we can be on the same pace. The test last week was really important to try some different things and to find a good feeling with the car and tyres on gravel. The Safari is definitely one of the most special rallies in the season. It’s always really cool to go there and we’ll try to do another good result, as we really need that this year. It’s a hard rally to predict but we’ll try to push really hard and do our best.”
Takamoto Katsuta
“Sweden was a nice rally for me, where I was able to show speed and finish with a strong result, and this gives me a good feeling for Kenya. The Safari is a special rally for me, and the team has been very strong there every year. They always prepare the car well and reliability has been our key strength. This year could be more challenging with the greater distance and new stages, so we need to prepare the pacenotes well during recce. We also have to find the best way to drive with this year’s car and tyres, but the feeling was quite good in our test. We always have a lot of support in Kenya, and I will try of course to finish on the podium again, but anything can happen there, and we need to prepare and manage it well.”
Sami Pajari
“The season has started with some very specific rallies, so it’s not been easy, but so far we have done some nice stage times and had many positive moments, and hopefully it can continue like this in Kenya. I was there for the recce last year, so I know a little bit what the roads are like, but it’s still going to be a huge challenge. The team has been really good there over the past few years, so I can expect the car to be strong, but I’m focused on my own performance as well. The target is just to gain as much experience as we can, but we’re also there to do our best and in a rally like this, anything can happen. It will be tough but I’m looking forward to the challenge.”
Hyundai Motorsport
Thierry Neuville
“Safari Rally Kenya is very different from any other rally. Despite being rough like Greece, Kenya’s conditions, weather and surface can change very quickly. It’s rainy season over there, so if there’s precipitation, it’s very demanding both for the cars and for our visibility. The roughness of the terrain changes year on year; in addition to that, there are a couple of new stages as well as others that are run in the opposite direction to last time. Nevertheless, we need to have a clever drive. Taking care of the car and staying away from trouble will be key to that. Obviously, you need a bit of luck, but hopefully it’s going to work this year. While we expected more from Monte Carlo, the pace was definitely there, and that was shown in our performance in Sweden. We want to take it one step further in Kenya and finish on the podium steps.”
Ott Tänak
“Safari Rally Kenya is the most testing rally we have on the calendar. Generally, the roads are very demanding and rough, but super-fast at the same time. As we discovered last year, stones can appear from anywhere, so it’s a rally where we need to expect everything. The key is to find the perfect balance of risk and reward, but it is never easy. We need trust in our car to be reliable so we could push ourselves, as well as the places in the rough sections where we can carry as much speed as possible. The speeds are high and often we are competing on open sections where there is not much around us other than zebras and giraffes. This makes it quite tricky to perfect the pacenotes. We want to leave Kenya having had a trouble-free event and with a big trophy.”
Round 03, Safari Rally Kenya
27-31 March 2024
Ott Tanak, Martin Jarveoja, Hyundai i20 N Rally1 Hybrid
Photographer: Dufour Fabien
Worldwide copyright: Hyundai Motorsport GmbH
Adrien Fourmaux
“Finishing on the podium in Kenya last year, I learned that it’s a very different rally than the others: it’s all about endurance and managing both the car and the tyres. It’s a really long event and it’s very rough, so the fastest crew is not guaranteed to be on top every time – we need to be smart to get to the end. This is now my third different surface in three events with a new team, which is great as I can learn quickly the car in all the type of conditions. The car is prepared differently for Kenya: the suspension is really high to protect the car as much as possible, as well as us as a crew. My goal for the weekend would be to return to the podium, but I know it’s a big challenge. Anything can happen, so we will do our best to get the best result.”
M-Sport Ford WRT
Grégoire Munster
“I’m really looking forward to Safari Rally Kenya, it’s probably my favourite event on the calendar, just because you experience things there that you don’t see anywhere else – not only with the wildlife but also with the tricky conditions. The heavy rain can be really intense, and the terrain is always changing so you have to pick a small track in the middle of tall grass fields which really adds to the character of the event.
“I’m really looking forward to the challenge, I think we are well prepared with the team, and we had a good pre-event test in Greystoke earlier this week, so we just want to do well in Kenya and get a strong result.”
Josh McErlean
“This iconic event pushes drivers, co-drivers, and machines to their absolute limits, and I’m excited to take on its demanding terrain. The guys and girls at M-Sport have worked hard to prepare the cars into Safari spec, it’s pretty cool seeing the snorkel on the car. Both myself and Eoin are ready to face this adventure and whatever it throws our way.”
Jourdan Serderidis
“Kenya is where I have delivered my best results in WRC, with seventh in 2022 and ninth last year. I can’t wait to do it once again and to do my best to enter the top ten again! I know it is a tough rally and that we need to have a perfect run through the stages, and we also want to show our improvements that we have seen during the pre-event test.”
WRC2
Oliver Solberg
“The challenge from Sweden to here is so different,” said the Monster Energy driver. “This is one of the really cool aspects of the World Rally Championship: we go from minus 15 and proper snow and ice to this… Look at this place,” he smiles. “It’s incredible.
What a beautiful place to go rallying. We have done a few runs already today and everything is feeling good. We have worked a little bit with the suspension and the set-up, and the car is feeling really nice. “Since I joined this team and started driving the Toyota at the start of the season, I was feeling comfortable and really at home. Both the Yaris and the team is fantastic, it gives a lot of confidence coming to an event like the Safari.
“There’s no doubt, we have to take a different approach for this one – you can’t drive flat-out all of the time, there will be a rock waiting for you somewhere. But at the same time, you can’t afford to take it too steady, the competition is super-tough in WRC2. We need to find a quick and consistent speed this week.
“But also, we have to enjoy competing in Africa. It’s an incredible place with some of the best fans in the world – I love coming here! We came directly from competing at Race of Champions in Australia, that was a really cool event. I stayed on for a few days to relax in Sydney after the race and actually proposed to my partner Chloe. It was a cool moment on Bondi beach. What was even cooler was her saying yes!”
Summary
The action has already started with shakedown earlier today. Kalle led the way from Thierry and Ott whilst Welshman Elfyn was seventh fastest.
Who can win this weekend then? Well, it’s hard to not look past Kalle who won this rally last year and also in 2022 as well. Toyota have dominated this rally ever since it returned to the championship in 2021 winning every event as well.
Hyundai have led the event previously – can they take a victory and beat the Toyota team? Only time will tell…..
For the three M-Sport crews this will be a learning event in particular for Josh and Eoin. Greg and Louis will have some experience to rely on from. Jourdan keeps returning to this event which had seen his best result at the top level, and he clearly loves it.
