There are few that relish the prospect of Safari Rally Kenya’s monsoon rains that can cause chaos, but rally leader Oliver Solberg is hoping the anticipated rain showers do arrive on Saturday.
Kenya is renowned for being the toughest round on the World Rally Championship calendar, with its rough road conditions regarded as car breakers. Crews equally fear the famous sudden monsoon downpours that turn stages into treacherous mud baths, and have proven their ability to turn the leaderboard on its head.
Teams have already witnessed how mother nature can affect the rally on Thursday when a sudden rain shower hit stage two, resulting in the Rally1 field being split by an almost whopping four minutes.
On that occasion, Solberg and Elfyn Evans were fortunate not to face the full force of the rain, but still they had to fight through horrendous muddy sections and poor visibility. Organisers were forced to cancel the second pass of the test, scheduled for Friday, due to deteriorating road conditions.
Joshua Mcerlean, Eoin Treacy, M-Sport Ford World Rally Team Ford Puma Rally1
Photo by: M-Sport
It was in the thick mud and rain where Monte Carlo winner Solberg thrived, clocking time 30s faster than anyone else, thrusting the Swede into a healthy lead. Solberg’s ability to tame the worst of conditions is one of the reasons why the Toyota driver heads into Saturday still leading the rally, albeit by a slender one second from Sébastien Ogier.
Saturday conditions: rain and tough stages
Joshua Mcerlean, Eoin Treacy, M-Sport Ford World Rally Team Ford Puma Rally1
Photo by: M-Sport
WRC teams are expecting, as Evans put it “all hell to break loose” on Saturday, thanks to a combination of three of the rally’s roughest stages in Soysambu, Elmenteita and Sleeping Warrior, and forecasted heavy rain. Ogier joked that it would be quicker to drive a boat through some sections of the Sleeping Warrior stage.
This is perhaps the worst case scenario for anyone trying to protect a lead. However, Solberg is actively hoping the wet weather arrives on Saturday having already showcased this year his ability when roads become slippery in Monte Carlo and in Kenya this week. The 24-year-old had even wished for rain during Friday saying “the more rain, the happier I am.”
“We are back to zero and we will have to start flat out again tomorrow,” said Solberg.
“Today was tough with the rocks and the tyres, but tomorrow is hard for everything else.
“There is such a long way to go and being in the lead is much better than being two minutes behind so we still have to be happy. Tomorrow comes the rain, and I’m happy.”
Solberg’s closest rival Ogier is wary of the conditions that are expected to arrive on Saturday that could wreak havoc.
“Tomorrow is the big day of the week with very demanding, rough sections to go through. That is the moment where gaps can still be made. The biggest part of the job remains,” said Ogier.
Takamoto Katsuta, Aaron Johnston, Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT Toyota GR Yaris Rally1
Photo by: Toyota Racing
“There are three very rough stages and Sleeping Warrior, which is always very hard with a lot of stones and water, and for the first one and half kilometre you would be faster with a boat basically. The car will have to be strong.
“Tomorrow we have to keep the same approach and I think it is never the time to go full attack mode in Kenya because there will most probably be consequences.”
When Solberg’s response about being happy if the rain arrives was put to Ogier, he added: “At least now we are starting with similar conditions, so that is good, and I’m in the middle of the guys I’m fighting with. That is the position I wanted to have tonight.
“We have often seen on Saturday that it gets worse and worse for the late runners and now we are in the middle [of Evans and Solberg in the road order], so it shouldn’t be any disadvantage, and may the crew doing the best job go ahead.”
Evans will head into Saturday 20.5s behind Solberg, and is equally wary about what will lie in store for the WRC field.
“These stages tomorrow are prone to a lot of rain, especially in the afternoon, so it is possible we will get difficult conditions from the first pass. We will have to wait and see what we face,” said Evans.
“We are going to be focusing on doing the best we can, but of course what that looks like who knows, it is very difficult to judge in these conditions, but we have some experience from last year.”
Can Hyundai teams claw back time?
Esapekka Lappi, Enni Malkonen, Hyundai World Rally Team Hyundai i20 N Rally1
Photo by: Hyundai
The lottery of when and where the rain showers could strike could throw Hyundai a lifeline with fifth-placed Thierry Neuville perhaps the best placed to benefit should conditions fall in his favour.
“Tomorrow nobody knows what will happen,” said Neuville, who is 1m46.1 from the lead.
“We expect the worst, but what is the worst? Nobody knows. We need to get through and find a good rhythm and accept when the weather is not in our favour, and when it is good we need to push.
“We have to try to stay out of trouble, we have seen a lot already, so we know we need to prepare some stuff for tomorrow otherwise it will be difficult.”
We want to hear from you!
Let us know what you would like to see from us in the future.
Take our survey
– The Autosport.com Team
Read the full article here