Toyota’s Sebastien Ogier shrugged off a minor morning setback to build a commanding overnight lead on WRC Safari Rally Kenya after Friday’s opening leg.
The Frenchman (above) showed his rivals a clean pair of heels on the first full day of action and quickly established a double-digit lead just three special stages into the seventh round of the 2023 FIA World Rally Championship. But a hybrid unit fault on his GR Yaris Rally1 hindered the eight-time WRC champ late in the morning, slashing his buffer over Toyota Gazoo racing teammate Kalle Rovanpera to just 2.5s before the midday service in Naivasha.
That failed to deter Ogier, who rolled the dice by carrying only one spare wheel aboard his Yaris for the repeated afternoon loop of stages. Those weight-saving tactics clearly worked wonders as he charged to three-straight fastest times, ending the day 22.8s clear of Rovanpera at the head of a Toyota 1-2-3
“It’s been a good day,” said Ogier, who’s elected to run only a limited WRC schedule in 2023, but has won two of the four events he’s started so far. “Except for the hybrid issue this morning we had a perfect day, so we can be happy.”
Reigning WRC champ Rovanpera, whose points lead going into Kenya meant he was running Friday’s leg as first car on the road, found understeer an issue, particularly during the second half of the day when he was forced to carve a new line in the already rutted sandy tracks. His teammate, Elfyn Evans, completed Toyota’s early podium lock-out, but 43.5s off the lead on a day which the Welshman admitted he approached too cautiously.
Thierry Neuville had been Hyundai’s leading light for much of Friday, but the Belgian retired in the penultimate stage when a heavy compression destroyed the front-left suspension on his i20 N Rally1. Safari Rally debutant Esapekka Lappi, driving a similar car, inherited the position and trailed Evans by 10.5s at close of day, moving ahead of Takamoto Katsuta’s Toyota in the process.
Katsuta donned his mechanics gloves after the morning’s second stage to replace a damaged steering arm on his Yaris. He heads sixth-placed Hyundai driver Dani Sordo by just 9.0s heading into Saturday after a dramatic final stage saw him clip a tree branch and also sustain tire damage.
M-Sport Ford drivers Ott Tanak and Pierre-Louis Loubet had a day to forget. Both Puma Rally1 drivers sat several minutes back from the lead in seventh and eighth overall after carrying out mid-stage wheel changes.
But it was better news for M-Sport Ford in WRC2, the second tier of international rallying, where Gregoire Munster’s tactical approach in his Fiesta Mk II gave him the class lead at the end of the leg.
Munster is starting his first-ever Safari, but ended the opening leg 26.4s clear of Kajetan Kajetanowicz, the winner here in 2022.
The 24-year-old Luxembourger took his time to get dialed into the unique African terrain, but when Kajetanowicz suffered a tire delamination and dropped almost 40s in the Kedong 1 test, he was elevated to first.
He held his own against the Pole’s Fabia Rally2 Evo across the repeated afternoon loop and reached the overnight halt in Naivasha feeling satisfied with his approach.
“This one was really tricky, so sandy and so deep,” Munster said at the finish of Kedong 2, the day’s final stage. “The car was crashing through quite a lot, but I think we managed exactly as we needed to in this kind of stage. It’s rough; I’m glad this first day is over.”
Roads further north around Lake Elmenteita host Saturday’s second leg. A three-stage loop, including the 19.29-mile Sleeping Warrior test, is repeated twice for a total of 93.75 competitive miles in the longest day of the event.
WRC Safari Rally Kenya, leading positions after Day One, SS7
1 Sebastien Ogier/Vincent Landais (Toyota GR Yaris Rally1) 1h14m38.7s
2 Kalle Rovanpera/Jonne Halttunen (Toyota GR Yaris Rally1) +22.8s
3 Elfyn Evans/Scott Martin (Toyota GR Yaris Rally1) +43.5s
4 Esapekka Lappi/Janne Ferm (Hyundai i20 N Rally1) +54.0s
5 Takamoto Katsuta/Aaron Johnston (Toyota GR Yaris Rally1) +1m19.4s
6 Dani Sordo/Candido Carrera (Hyundai i20 N Rally1) +1m28.4s
7 Ott Tanak/Martin Jarveoja (M-Sport Ford Puma Rally1) +3m03.3s
8 Pierre-Louis Loubet/Nicolas Gilsoul (M-Sport Ford Puma Rally1) +7m04.9s
9 Gregoire Munster/Louis Louka (Ford Fiesta MkII – WRC2 leader) +8m50.7s
10 Kajetan Kajetanowicz/Maciej Szczepaniak (Skoda Fabia Evo – WRC2) +9m17.1s
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