Kenya – SS2: Tänak takes the lead, Fourmaux suffers

This second special of the Rally Kenya has been one of mixed fortunes for Hyundai. One Ott Tänak set the best time and took control of the Safari, the South Korean manufacturer saw Thierry Neuville et Adrien fourmaux be affected by bad luck.

The misfortunes of Cyril Abiteboul and his gang started even before this SS2 when Adrien Fourmaux was unable to leave the regroup. Indeed, the i20 encountered mechanical problems and the Northerner was unfortunately unable to restart it. Despite several attempts, the Tricolore was unable to restart and thus reach the start of SS2 to point, not even late which would have earned him a penalty.

A battery problem in his Hyundai is believed to be the cause of Adrien Fourmaux's misfortune, and he could be at the start this Friday, but with a 10-minute penalty.

⚠️ @AdrienFourmaux is having trouble. His car won't start before SS2.#WRC | #SafariRallyKenya (I.e. pic.twitter.com/RV6I6PeVem

— FIA World Rally Championship (@OfficialWRC) March 20, 2025

For his part, Thierry Neuville completed the second special of the day, but the reigning world champion appeared to be slowing down in the final section. The problem appears to have occurred on a sharp left-hand bend, which subsequently cost him a good twenty seconds in the standings. I don't know what's wrong with the carhe said. We have assistance tomorrow morning, but we'll only have 15 minutes. We'll try to fix it quickly tomorrow before thinking about the rest of the day. »

In this dark afternoon, the ray of sunshine came from Ott Tänak for Hyundai with the fastest time of the special and first place in the general classification. The Estonian outpaced the rest of the field thanks to a time of 6:41 that Takamoto Katsuta could have beaten if he hadn't ventured a little too far outside in the last part of SS1 where he almost got punished. The Japanese still got away with the second time, 2 behind his counterpart.

ES2 Ranking

In the overall standings, Ott Tänak is the leader with a 2 second lead over Takamoto Katsuta. Leading before the final start of the day, Elfyn Evans is 4th, 5 seconds behind, with Grégoire Munster and Kalle Rovanperä sandwiched in 4rd and 5th positions.

General classification after SS2

The Kenya Rally is scheduled to resume this Friday at 5:28 a.m. French time.

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