Rovanperä and Toyota fly over the Safari Rally, disastrous Friday for Hyundai

Perfect day for Kalle Rovanperä, winner of the six stages contested this Friday! The Finn leads a Toyota hat-trick, while Hyundai lost two of its three cars in the afternoon.

Published on 29/03/2024 à 14:55

² View comments)

Rovanperä and Toyota fly over the Safari Rally, disastrous Friday for Hyundai

Kalle Rovanperä could hardly have done better today: the Finn set the best time on all the special stages of the day this Friday, with an impressive 6/6 on this Safari Rally! A perfect score which allows him to lead the Rally from Kenya, and already with a good lead in the general classification. After SS7, the double world champion has a 56″ lead over his closest pursuer, Elfyn Evans. A crucial lead while rain could disrupt Saturday's day in Kenya...
Toyota is on track to achieve another excellent result in Kenya. The Japanese manufacturer, which remains on two consecutive quadruplets in 2022 and 2023 on the Safari Rally, currently monopolizes the Top 3 with Kalle Rovanperä, Elfyn Evans and Takamoto Katsuta, relegated to one minute behind the leader.
The Japanese team took advantage of the setbacks of Hyundai this Friday afternoon: Esapekka Lappi retired due to a transmission problem in SS5, and Ott Tänak had to retire due to suspension damage after hitting a large stone in SS6.

The Safari bites again 😬 @OttTanak is stopped for the day on SS6 Geothermal 🛑#WRC pic.twitter.com/ZZ3w6JRoo0

— Hyundai Motorsport (@HMSGOfficial) March 29, 2024

Thierry Neuville, the only survivor of this massacre, is in 4th place after this disastrous first day for the Korean clan. The Belgian still has good hopes of podiums, he who is only 6″5 behind Takamoto Katsuta.
At M-Sport, it was a discreet but cautious first day for both drivers. Adrien fourmaux, in difficulty with his settings, made no mistakes and entered the Top 5 in the general after the retirement of the two Hyundais, but was relegated to 46 seconds from the podium. Grégoire Munster, who is experiencing his first Safari Rally this weekend aboard a Rally1, had a long time to adapt, but picked up the pace at the end of the day. The Belgian-Luxembourger is 6th, more than 3'30 behind the leaders.
In WRC2, Gus Greensmith (Skoda) largely leads the category despite health problems. The Briton is 3'23 ahead of his closest pursuer, namely Kajetan Kajetanowicz (Skoda) and 3'37 over Oliver Solberg (Skoda). Nicolas Ciamin is 4th in the category.