While Takamoto Katsuta continued to set a hellish pace in the early afternoon to get closer to the podium, on Saturday Toyota took a first bad turn with Kalle Rovanperä's problems. The double Finnish world champion suffered a rear-left suspension problem at the end of SS14. After makeshift repairs on the road section, the duo he forms with Jonne Holttunen was initially late, receiving a ten-second penalty. But that was nothing compared to the two stages that awaited him. The #69 Toyota Yaris had to cover them almost in slow motion, and while it was second, Rovanperä's car is now in fifth place, 6'06 behind Evans.
For Katsuta, it was in the last special of the day that things went wrong with a puncture. While he had returned to the podium during SS15, won by Grégoire Munster, he found himself ejected by the Hyundai de Thierry NeuvilleThe Belgian now has a 33" lead over the Japanese driver. It wasn't all rosy either for Elfyn Evans, who could no longer use his windshield washer fluid at the end of the day. Given the mud accumulated on the windshield, the Welshman was lucky to have lost "only" 2 seconds!
Evans is now in the lead with a 1'57″4 advantage over Thank you, and 4'33″4 on Neuville. As we enter an exceptionally busy final day, with five special stages, anything can still happen. In WRC2, the back-and-forth between Gus Greensmith and Jan Solans continues, and it is now the Briton who is in the lead, with a five-second lead over the Spaniard. Fabrizio Saldivar is holding on in third place, despite having experienced several difficulties during Saturday's race.
Rally Kenya – Overall after SS16
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Delhasse Vincent
22/03/2025 at 11:32 a.m.
This Saturday evening, nothing is decided yet!