Safari Rally Kenya – Rovanperä unfolds, Fourmaux on the podium and Neuville in slow motion: the summary of a hectic 2nd stage

Safari Rally Ranking Kenya 2024, Stage 2:

• The Safari Rally Kenya lived up to its reputation as a tough event during this second stage held on Saturday April 30. A litany of punctures and other incidents marred the progress of most of the challengers, starting with Thierry Neuville (Hyundai).
• The Belgian, who started very quickly this morning and moved up to provisional 2nd place, spent three stages in slow motion following a serious mechanical breakdown, the origin of which he was unwilling or unable to publicly detail. The winner of the last Monte-Carlo dropped to 5th place but was still able to finish the stage, which will allow him to collect 8 precious points in the Drivers' championship. Indeed, since this year, points have been awarded at the end of the Saturday stage, provided that the drivers complete the rally Sunday lunchtime.
• Elfyn Evans (Toyota) received the prize for clumsiness, suffering three punctures in six special stages! The Welshman comes down from the podium.
• The hat-trick held by Toyota on Friday evening therefore turned into a double because only Takamoto Katsuta held his place this Saturday. The Japanese has a good lead over the French Adrien fourmaux (M-Sport Ford). The Northerner made no mistakes and avoided incidents to appear on the provisional podium on the eve of the finish! Such a result, on a famous round of the calendar, would constitute a new performance after his podium won in Sweden in February.
• The adventures were so numerous that we almost forgot the health walk in the savannah carried out by Kalle Rovanperä (Toyota). The outgoing double world champion, dying in Sweden (accident), has regained his splendor. He is the best performer of the Safari Rally Kenya 2024 and had a very calm Saturday: no punctures, no mechanical breakdowns and no driving errors. Obviously, overall, the Finn took the lead.

Starting the afternoon in style! 💨#ToyotaGAZOORacing #GRYaris #WRC #SafariRallyKenya (I.e. pic.twitter.com/BMDanymmDo

- TOYOTA GAZOO Racing WRT (@TGR_WRC) March 30, 2024

• At M-Sport Ford, Grégoire Munster did not drive this afternoon following a suspension failure earlier in the morning. The Luxembourg rookie should return on Sunday.
• Left with a heavy time penalty after his accident on Friday, Ott Tänak (Hyundai) narrowly entered the top 10.
• In WRC2, despite suffering from the flu, Gus Greensmith (Skoda) dominates the debates. The Englishman has a margin of around 2 minutes over Oliver Solberg (Skoda). The Frenchman Nicolas Ciamin (Hyundai) in the learning phase on this legendary event of the WRC, is at the foot of the podium, behind Kajetan Kajetanowicz (Skoda).
• The third and final stage of the Safari Rally Kenya will begin very early on Sunday (6:02 a.m.). The last Sunday specials will be followed in live text.

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