日: 2023年6月23日

Sébastien Ogier was the pride of the plains on Friday at Safari Rally Kenya as he recovered from a minor morning setback to build a commanding overnight lead.

The Frenchman showed his rivals a clean pair of heels on the opening day of action and had established a double-digit lead just three special stages into this seventh round of the FIA World Rally Championship.

A hybrid unit fault hindered the eight-time world champion late in the morning, however, slicing his buffer to just 2.5sec over team-mate Kalle Rovanperä before the midday service in Naivasha.  

But that failed to deter Ogier, who gambled by carrying only one spare wheel aboard his Toyota GR Yaris for the repeated afternoon loop. Those weight-saving tactics clearly worked wonders as he romped to a hat-trick of benchmark stage times, ending the day 22.8sec clear of Rovanperä at the sharp end of a Toyota 1-2-3.

“It’s been a good day. Except for the hybrid issue this morning we had a perfect day, so we can be happy,” he said.

Championship leader Rovanperä found understeer an issue particularly over the second half of the day, the road-opening Finn forced to pave a new line in the rutted sandy tracks. His colleague Elfyn Evans completed the early podium 20.7sec behind on a day which the Welshman admitted he approached too cautiously.  

Thierry Neuville had been Hyundai’s leading light for much of the day but the Belgian retired in the penultimate test when a heavy compression destroyed the front-left suspension on his i20 N. Safari debutant Esapekka Lappi, driving a similar car, inherited the position and trailed Evans by 10.5sec at close of play, passing Takamoto Katsuta in the process.

Katsuta donned his mechanics gloves after SS3 to replace a damaged steering arm on his Toyota. He heads sixth-placed Hyundai man Dani Sordo by just 9.0sec approaching Saturday after a dramatic finale saw him clip a tree branch and also sustain tyre damage. 

M-Sport Ford drivers Ott Tänak and Pierre-Louis Loubet had a day to forget. Both lay several minutes back from the lead in seventh and eighth overall after carrying out mid-stage wheel changes, although their second-tier colleague Grégoire Munster gave the British team something to smile about by leading the WRC2 category from Kajetan Kajetanowicz in a Fiesta Rally2.

In WRC2, a tactical approach worked wonders for Grégoire Munster as the M-Sport Ford youngster led the category after Friday. The 24-year-old is starting his first-ever Safari and ended the six-stage opening leg 26.4sec clear of Polish rival Kajetan Kajetanowicz, winner here in 2022.

Munster took his time to get bedded into the unique African terrain but when Kajetanowicz suffered a tyre delamination and dropped almost 40sec in Kedong 1, the Luxembourger was elevated to first in the premier support category.

His Fiesta Rally2 held its own against Kajetanowicz’s Škoda Fabia Rally2 Evo across the repeated afternoon loop and he reached the overnight halt in Naivasha feeling happy with his progress.

Experienced Czech Martin Prokop made it two Fords in the top three, successfully fending off Armin Kremer’s challenge until the German hit trouble in the final test.

Paraguay’s Diego Dominguez regained the WRC3 lead and will tackle the Saturday action with a confortable advantage of almost five minutes over Canada’s Jason Bailey and local youngster – all driving Ford Fiesta Rally3 cars.

Roads further north around Lake Elmenteita host Saturday’s monster 150.88km route, the longest of the weekend.

World Rally Championship

Safari Rally KenyaWRCSEASON 2023SportRallies1SportWorld Rally ChampionshipRalliesWRCSEASON 2023Safari Rally Kenya01Friday, June 23, 2023 – 4:09pmFriday, June 23, 2023 – 4:09pm

Formula 1 chief executive Stefano Domenicali has suggested that the sound of Grand Prix racing will be music…

The post Domenicali says next gen F1 engines will be louder appeared first on F1i.com.

Andrea Stella says McLaren is determined to question the FIA on what the Canadian Grand Prix stewards “were…

The post McLaren wants clarity from FIA on Ocon’s wobbling wing appeared first on F1i.com.

The FIA recently issued a technical directive to F1 teams that closes a potential loophole in the sport’s…

The post FIA tackles impact on cost cap of teams’ non-F1 projects appeared first on F1i.com.

Sébastien Ogier led Safari Rally Kenya on Friday morning as Toyota Gazoo Racing’s GR Yaris cars locked out the leading trio on Africa’s unremitting roads.

The Frenchman, who competes on a part-time basis, held a slender 2.5sec lead over team-mate Kalle Rovanperä as the Japanese manufacturer squad, which claimed a 1-2-3-4 finish in 2022 showed it had lost none of its dominance over Kenya’s rugged speed tests.

Ogier won the tight and twisty Loldia opener and extended his advantage into double figures with a top-two time at Geothermal. His efforts were undone in the super-fast Kedong stage, however, when a hybrid unit fault cost almost 10sec and allowed Rovanperä back into the fight.

“I had no hybrid for the whole stage,” Ogier revealed. “We are in the lead and it’s still a very long weekend ahead. Of course it’s very disappointing when you lose time and you cannot do anything, but I think we can be happy with our loop for sure and we hope that our car will be 100 per cent again for the afternoon.”

Elfyn Evans completed the Toyota top three a hefty 17.0sec further back. The Welshman’s cautious policy was clear to see: “There are quite a lot of big stones already being pulled out and it feels quite soft in places. I knew I wasn’t taking enough risks,” he said.

A mere 1.7sec in arrears and holding fourth overall was Thierry Neuville, the Belgian one of several drivers to feel the full force of Kenya’s punishing power. Both he and i20 N partner Esapekka Lappi dropped time with tyre damage, as did Ott Tänak, who stopped to change a wheel on his M-Sport Ford Puma in Kedong.

Takamoto Katsuta damaged a steering arm on his GR Yaris and was forced to carry out roadside repairs before the morning’s finale. He trailed Neuville by 7.9sec and headed Lappi, the pacesetter in Geothermal, by 12.0sec.

Pre-rally pace note tweaks did not play to Dani Sordo’s favour, and instead made the Hyundai man drive too cautiously in some high-speed sections. Already lumbered with a 10sec penalty for jump-starting Thursday’s super special stage, seventh was the best Sordo could manage.

Pierre-Louis Loubet was hindered by what he described as a “setting” issue which left his Puma down on power in the day’s opener. He recovered to hold eighth ahead of team-mate Tänak, whose SS4 wheel change was compounded by a hybrid fault and cost around two minutes.

Oliver Solberg, who is not nominated to score WRC2 points this week, completed the top 10 in. Škoda Fabia Rally2 Evo. In 11th overall, Grégoire Munster from Luxembourg leads the WCR2 class in his Ford Fiesta MkII, ahead of Poland’s Kajetan Kajetanowicz (Škoda Fabia Evo) in 13th overall, and Czech Republic’s Martin Prokop in another Ford Fiesta MkII.

Local driver Hamza Anwar (Ford Fiesta Rally3) moved into the WRC3 category lead in Kedong despite being lumbered with a ten-second time penalty for a late check-in. He leapfrogged early favourite Diego Dominguez in the process as the Paraguayan erred on the side of caution.

World Rally Championship

Safari Rally KenyaWRCSEASON 2023SportRallies1SportWorld Rally ChampionshipRalliesWRCSEASON 2023Safari Rally Kenya01Friday, June 23, 2023 – 12:43pmFriday, June 23, 2023 – 12:43pm

Lewis Hamilton says Max Verstappen can “absolutely” beat his records in Formula 1, but the Briton is counting…

The post Hamilton: Max can beat my records – we need to slow him down appeared first on F1i.com.