TOYOTA TAMES WILD SAFARI

Toyota has landed its first blow in the 2024 FIA World Rally Championship by taming a wild Safari Rally Kenya with a commanding 1-2 led by Kalle Rovanpera.

Rovanpera, who is only doing a part time campaign in 2024 hit back from a disappointing Rally Sweden by taking out a dominant 1m37s win over Toyota teammate Takamoto Katsuta.

Whilst many found trouble, the two-time champion and co-driver Jonne Halttunen were faultless across the 19-stage event, which is renowned as one of the most demanding in the world.

Rovanpera, who was the only Rally1 driver not to find any trouble across the three days in the dirt, said “clever driving” was the key.

“It is always special, this event is so tough and also it is a legendary event for Toyota, and we have always been good here and we are still continuing to do that,” said Rovanpera.

“I think me and Jonne did a good job, I think you cannot do a better Safari Rally than what we did, we had no issues for the whole weekend, and it was clever driving. I think it was a good effort.

“We had zero issues on the car and the tyres so I don’t think you can drive more clever at this rally. We were fast, we had the speed, but it was not about that, we had the speed and we used it well.”

Whilst Rovanpera ended on top, it was the Hyundai of Thierry Neuville that raced out of the blocks.

The most gruelling WRC event once again began with the traditional side by side Kasarani super special in the centre of Nairobi.

Neuville edged out Ott Tanak by a slender 0.1s but bigger challenges were ahead.

On Friday six demanding stages were on offer and Rovanpera rose to the occasion.

The Finn recorded a stunning sweep of all six stages to surge into a rally lead he would never let go.

As Rovanpera completed the perfect day, Neuville was hit by a right-rear puncture on Stage 3 and lost 19.9s.

To further strengthen the Toyota driver’s advantage more of his nearest rivals found trouble.

Esapekka Lappi trailed Rovanpera by 15.5s heading to the afternoon only for the Hyundai driver to suffer a transmission issue, which ruled him out for the remainder of the day, effectively ending his overall chances.

Lappi said there was no warning before the “explosion”.

“The gearbox exploded,” said Lappi. 

“At first it started to go to front wheel drive and after one acceleration there was no impact or a really big noise coming from it, it just went to front wheel drive. 

“A couple of hundred metres later there was no pull from the car at all it didn’t matter if I was in first or fifth gear.”

This vaulted fellow Hyundai driver Tanak into second place, but only briefly as the Estonian crashed on the following stage.

Tanak appeared to have hit a stone when negotiating a left hander and the impact sent the Hyundai head on into a bank.

As a result Rovanpera was in a league of his own, entering the weekend with a massive 56.9s lead over Toyota teammate Elfyn Evans.

The leader’s run of six straight stage wins was broken by Katsuta, who edged out the rejoining Lappi.

Saturday proved to be a battle for survival as both Toyota contenders Evans and Katsuta lost time due to costly punctures.

Although Neuville and Lappi were the beneficiaries, they took aim at the rally organisers.

“It was a good run, but we were told that the road wouldn’t be modified after recce. We had a big moment. They put big stones in the middle of the road,” Neuville said.

“The organisers are not doing a good job. They promised us that nothing will change, but they changed the cuts after the recce which is really shit,” continued Lappi.

With such a strong advantage, Rovanpera only won one of the final 12 stages as he took a cautious approach to protect his lead.

It proved to be a masterstroke as Evans was hit by “mystery” punctures and Neuville suffered a fuel system issue.

A haul of 20 points gave Rovanpera a mighty win as a Stage 11 win helped Katsuta seal second ahead of the consistent Adrien Fourmaux, who secured a second straight podium for M-Sport.

Despite collecting 19 points, Neuville had to settle for fifth, but that was enough to retain the championship lead over the fourth placed Evans.

The FIA World Rally Championship returns to Europe for the first taste of tarmac in Croatia on April 18-21.

Image: Red Bull Content Pool

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