Solberg leads, Evans retires as drivers slam “dangerous” decision from rally organisers

Oliver Solberg emerged from a Safari Rally Kenya mud bath with the lead, as several crews slammed rally organisers over a “dangerous” decision to make changes to the route.

Solberg took a slender one-second overnight lead over Toyota team-mate Sebastien Ogier into Saturday, which was expected to test crews to the very limit.

While the rain stayed away, severe muddy conditions turned sections of stages into swamps. Despite picking up a double puncture in stage 12, Solberg emerged with a 42.6s lead over Ogier, who had tumbled down the order after losing two minutes to a left-rear puncture in the opening test. There was further drama for Elfyn Evans, who was forced to retire from second with a right-rear suspension failure in stage 13.

Prior to Evans’ exit, the Welshman and Solberg were angered by a decision made by the rally organisers to make alterations to Stage 12. Barriers and taping were added to sections in an attempt to restrict corner-cutting, with the amendments communicated to crews via a video.

Solberg, Evans and Toyota team-mate Takamoto Katsuta all picked up double punctures on the right-hand side of their cars in the stage, with the route changes suggested as a reason for the tyre failures.

“Seriously, organiser and FIA, what they’ve done here at the end is unacceptable. Putting sticks [up on corners] after recce and sending us a phone video. All the sticks are gone and there are rocks everywhere, they talk about safety, this is dangerous,” said Solberg.

Evans added: “Absolute joke. They put all these things in the finish to stop us from cutting after the recce, now stones are everywhere. I went out of the line and punctured. It’s completely out of order.”

“It’s unbelievable. They’ve changed the road after the recce. How can we make pacenotes from the video? Totally wrong line in the ruts, I have a double puncture now. They have to do that before the rally,” said Katsuta.

In response to the comments made by the drivers, an FIA spokesman said: “Following completion of reconnaissance on SS12/15 and SS13/16, it became clear that competitors were substantially deviating from the defined roadway. As a result, and in accordance with Article 19.2 of the FIA WRC Sporting Regulations, the organisers installed barriers and additional taping over the final 1.13km of SS12/15 and the final 0.9km of SS13/16 in order to ensure compliance with the defined route.

“Following the installation of these measures, the Clerk of the Course issued Communication No. 8 at 17:45 on 13 March, informing competitors of the changes. This was followed by the distribution of video footage of the amended sections to all competitors, in line with standard practice at FIA World Rally Championship events, providing crews with sufficient time to review the changes and adjust their pacenotes accordingly.”

This bone of contention from the crews was one of many dramatic moments across the morning loop.

Shortly after that stage, Evans suffered his first retirement from a WRC round since the 2024 Acropolis Rally Greece when his right-rear suspension failed in the final stage of the loop – Stage 13 – Sleeping Warrior. The Welshman had climbed to second after Ogier’s stage 11 puncture and was only 22.6s behind Solberg.

The expected swamp-like conditions in stage 13 continued to cause drama as crews did their best to navigate through.

Rally leader Solberg, now without any spare wheels, was among many to run out of windscreen washer fluid and was forced to slow down as visibility became restricted by mud.

Ogier managed the conditions the best and in the process took the stage win and was a whopping 1m03.7s quicker than Solberg. The effort was enough to climb back into second after Evans’ retirement.

Sebastien Ogier, Vincent Landais, Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT Toyota GR Yaris Rally1

Photo by: Toyota Racing

Katsuta started the day in seventh after his double puncture on Friday afternoon, but moved to third overall [1m33.6s] after surviving the Sleeping Warrior mud bath. The Japanese driver, like Solberg, had to nurse his car through without any spare wheels. 

Katsuta’s climb was helped by team-mate Sami Pajari losing more than five minutes when his left-rear tyre exploded in stage 12. The Finn had moved to third after Ogier’s puncture in stage 11.

Pajari managed to survive the final stage of the loop to hold seventh overall behind the Hyundai trio of Thierry Neuville, Adrien Fourmaux and Esapekka Lappi. All three drivers had to overcome problems in the final stage of the loop.

Steam was pouring from Neuville’s and Forumaux’s i20 N Rally as they battled overheating issues, while Lappi was reduced to a crawl having run out of windscreen washer fluid.

M-Sport-Ford’s Jon Armstrong and Josh McErlean managed to survive the loop, although the latter’s Ford Puma ingested a lot of water in stage 13.

We want to hear from you!

– The Autosport.com Team