Sebastien Ogier Reclaims Safari Rally Title, Leads Toyota To 2nd 1-2-3-4
Ogier on Sunday, June 25 won the 2023 edition, dethroning reigning World Rally Championship (WRC) champion, Kalle Rovanpera who won last year's (2022) Safari Rally.
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French driver Sebastien Ogier, who won the Safari Rally in 2021, has reclaimed the Safari Rally title.
Ogier on Sunday, June 25 won the 2023 edition, dethroning reigning World Rally Championship (WRC) champion, Kalle Rovanpera who won last year's (2022) Safari Rally by 6.7 seconds.
Meanwhile, Toyota Gazoo Racing secured a second consecutive 1-2-3-4 finish in the Safari Rally after Elfyn Evans completed the podium ahead of Takamoto Katsuta, continuing its historic run set in 2022 for the first time since 1993.
Toyota secured a 1-2-3-4 finish in the 2023 Safari Rally. /TWITTER.TOYOTA GAZOO RACING
Before 2022, only once in nearly 30 years has any other manufacturer accomplished the same feat in the championship, cementing the leg in the Toyota team's Hall of Fame.
“I am happy to reclaim my title, thank you to my team,” Ogier told the media.
“Unbelievable, look at that even on the power stage I got a stone on the windscreen. It could have been a much more comfortable race for us, in terms of pace we had a really good pace but a lot of misfortune. But I’m happy that we bring it home.”
The Frenchman recorded his third victory from just five starts so far this season, overcoming some nervy moments in the closing stages to beat GR Yaris team-mate Rovanperä on African soil, his second in Kenya after 2021 and his 58th career win in the World Rally Championship.
Rovanpera’s second place saw him consolidate his place atop the drivers’ standings, 37 points clear of Belgium’s Thierry Neuville (Hyundai), who finished eighth in Kenya, despite winning the power stage.
Neuville was running in the top four before bolts came loose on the top mount of his suspension on Friday afternoon, June 23 and forced him to retire.
Carl Tundo Secures Podium
Kenya's Carl 'Flash' Tundo finished third in the WRC2 category, the best-placed Kenyan driver in the category posting 4 hours 11 minutes 38.6 secs after 19 stages.
The FIA WRC2 Championship is a support championship of the World Rally Championship (WRC). The calendar consists of the same rallies and stages as the parent series and crews usually compete immediately after Rally1 class crews.
WRC2 is limited to production-based cars homologated under Group Rally2 (or previous R5) rules. There are separate specific championship titles awarded to Teams, Drivers, and Co-Drivers (including titles for Challengers in 2023, previously for Juniors under 30 years old).
Rally fans were said to have behaved well by following the Spectator Stage rules set by the organisers of Kenya’s biggest motorsport event. Special camping sites were located in several stages in addition to normal spectator zones.
Kenyans were celebrating the 70th edition of the famous event which was first run under the Coronation Safari Rally in 1953. This year’s major event was the seventh round of the 2023 World Rally Championship.
The remaining rounds of the 2023 WRC are Rally Estonia, 5/6 August - Finland Rally, 9/10 September - Rally Greece, 30 Sept/1 Oct - Rally Chile, 28/29 October - Rally Europe and 18/19 November - Rally Japan.
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