Two-minute lead no guarantee of victory in toughest modern Safari Rally

Elfyn Evans says an almost two-minute lead is no guarantee of victory after wild conditions have rendered this year’s Safari Rally the toughest since the event rejoined the World Rally Championship.

The WRC points leader survived incredibly challenging conditions to head into Sunday’s final five stages with a 1m57.4s lead over Hyundai’s Ott Tanak after Kalle Rovanpera’s victory bid suffered a setback.

Evans is the only Rally1 driver not to suffer a major issue after 16 stages as a mixture of brutal roads and chaotic wet weather wreaked havoc upon his rivals. That being said, the Welshman did spin in stage 14 and ran out of windscreen washer fluid, which hampered his visibility on Saturday afternoon.

“We have had a few dramas and it has definitely been difficult out there,” said Evans. “It has definitely been a proper Safari so far. A two-minute lead, normally you would say that would guarantee a win, but not really here.

“I’ll try to drive well and see after a few stages if [Super Sunday] points might be possible and we will continue to go for them, but I’m not going for an all-out banzai attack tomorrow.”

Evans’ lead stood at 7.7s over Rovanpera at the start of Saturday, but a pair of punctures dented the Finn’s bid for a third Safari Rally win.

Rovanpera then struck a rock in the wet stage 14, which required an emergency makeshift repair using ratchet straps to enable the two-time world champion to limp back to service.

“It was not easy and on this car we had never broken this part, so it seemed we didn’t have so many options to work with,” said Rovanpera.

“But we found something small to put there so at least we could start the stage and get back here. We definitely need some good points from tomorrow now.”

Toyota suffered another blow to its Safari bid when Takamoto Katsuta suffered his sixth puncture of the event to date. Despite battling food poisoning, the Japanese delivered a stunning stage-winning time in waterlogged conditions on stage 14 that hauled himself into podium contention.

Katsuta would have moved into third had he avoided a puncture on the day’s final stage, but instead had to settle for fourth, 5m06.6s adrift of Evans.

Hyundai enjoys podium turnaround as Safari wreaks havoc

Hyundai had been facing the possibility of losing grip of the podium positions altogether with the i20 Ns struggling in the treacherous wet conditions amid Katsuta’s charge up to close in on third-placed Tanak.

Tanak and an under-the-weather Thierry Neuville both endured their own issues across Saturday afternoon, but ultimately capitalised on the problems for Rovanpera and Katsuta to sit second and third respectively.

Tanak was unable to replicate Friday’s rally-leading pace, while a puncture in stage 11 proved costly. He then fell into the clutches of Katsuta due to a misting windscreen on stage 14 that severely limited his visibility in some of the toughest WRC conditions in recent memory.

Thierry Neuville, Martijn Wydaeghe, Hyundai World Rally Team Hyundai i20 N Rally1

Photo by: Fabien Dufour / Hyundai Motorsport

Team-mate Neuville, suffering from illness that robbed him of valuable sleep on Friday night, described ending the day in third as a reward given the circumstances.

“It is hard to describe how tough it has been out there for several reasons, first of all I wasn’t feeling well and I had a very bad night,” said Neuville, who will take a 33.2s margin over Katsuta into Sunday’s final five stages.

“I really struggled to keep my concentration and do the job, but we kept fighting and we got rewarded.

“They were incredible conditions this afternoon and I have never seen anything like that in my entire career, and to get through and be rewarded with a third place overnight is great.

“We have had some rough Safaris but this is definitely the roughest we have had so far, and it is not over.”

Meanwhile, M-Sport-Ford drivers Gregoire Munster and Josh McErlean managed to pick their way through the incredibly difficult conditions to claim a 1-2 on the timing screens in stage 15.

The pair were fortunate to experience marginally the best of the horrible conditions due to their road position but their efforts were commendable, though Munster joked that a “jet ski” would have been better to navigate through the wet sections.

Munster ended the day sitting in seventh, 11m02s adrift of the lead while McErlean, who lost half an hour to a steering arm repair in the morning loop, sat in 13th, behind M-Sport privateer Jourdan Serderidis in 10th position.

Gus Greensmith managed to hold off Jan Solans to lead the WRC2 class in eighth overall.  

Rally Safari leaderboard after SS16: