A 12 months in the past, the Toyota GAZOO RACING workforce received the Safari Rally Kenya, the Japanese carmaker’s first on the gruelling African occasion since Yoshio Fujimoto/Arne Hertz received the forty third Safari in 1995 in a Toyota Celica Turbo 4WD.
This 12 months, doing even higher than the 1-2 end within the 2021 occasion, TOYOTA GAZOO Racing made a outstanding clear sweep of the highest 4 positions with the GR YARIS Rally1 automotive. Elfyn Evans and Takamoto Katsuta joined winner Kalle Rovanpera on the rostrum, with Sebastien Ogier (final 12 months‘s winner) in fourth. The following best-placed automotive completed 8½ minutes behind the Toyota quartet.
It was additionally a landmark tenth victory for Toyota on the well-known African occasion, and the primary time it has achieved a 1-2-3-4 end within the WRC since the exact same rally in 1993. Solely as soon as has some other producer achieved the identical feat within the championship in practically three a long time since.
In its second working since returning to the WRC calendar final 12 months, the Safari delivered even more durable situations, together with deep ‘fesh-fesh’ sand on Friday and moist and muddy surfaces on Saturday along with the ever-present rocks and stones. It was by far the toughest problem but for the brand new era of hybrid-powered Rally1 automobiles.
Rovanpera had an early scare when he ran extensive on the very first nook on Thursday’s opening tremendous particular in Nairobi and knocked a tyre off its rim. However he and co-driver Jonne Halttunen ran faultlessly thereafter on the way in which to their fourth victory in 6 rounds, growing their championship result in 65 factors.
Rovanpera truly by no means anticipated to win this rally. He arrived in Kenya with a commanding factors lead and performed down his glory hopes, as a substitute beginning with the mindset that any factors from the championship’s roughest encounter can be a bonus. And regardless of feeling unwell, he strengthened his place on Saturday and thrived in waterlogged situations as downpours derailed a lot of his rivals’ hopes. The sizeable 40.3-second margin he carried into Sunday’s finale was prolonged additional by one other 2 quickest occasions and the teenager ended the powerful 4-day occasion within the lead of the Yaris quartet.
Evans and his co-driver Scott Martin additionally carried out beautifully and ran their team-mates shut for the victory, remaining inside 20 seconds of the lead till the rain hit on Saturday afternoon. They completed up 52.8 seconds away as they scored their second podium of the season.
Ogier, the 2021 occasion winner, led for many of Friday within the defence of his crown till he needed to cease and alter a tyre on the day’s last stage, shedding over 2 minutes. He and co-driver Benjamin Veillas fought again to fourth general and, with their team-mates targeted on reaching their end, set the third-fastest time within the rally-ending Energy Stage so as to add to the workforce’s factors haul from the weekend. Its Producers’ championship lead has elevated to 62 factors.
The hotly-anticipated battle with compatriot Sebastien Loeb by no means materialised both, because the 9-time world champion retired his M-Sport Ford Puma with engine issues on Friday. Nonetheless, Ogier was in a position to convey dwelling extra stable factors for Toyota throughout his part-time marketing campaign.
Hyundai Motorsport’s Thierry Neuville was over 10 minutes behind in fifth general, regardless of incurring a 10-minute penalty when he crashed right into a tree and failed to complete Saturday’s Sleeping Warrior finale. It was a weekend to neglect for the Korean producer, with Estonian Ott Tanak’s i20 N additionally sidelined by a damaged propshaft on the penultimate leg and retiring for a second time with energy steering failure on Sunday.
Craig Breen restarted after his early tub on Friday and ended as M-Sport Ford’s main driver in sixth general regardless of nursing suspension issues. Breen gained a place when Oliver Solberg stopped in the midst of the highway with an air filter filled with mud, inflicting the cancellation of Sunday’s opener. The younger Swede ultimately obtained going once more however was tormented by a mechanical concern within the closing pace exams and dropped to tenth.
Competing in Africa for the primary time, and having led from begin to end in a Skoda Fabia Rally2, Kajetan Kajetanowicz received the WRC2 class by the huge margin and topped off an ideal weekend by scoring most bonus factors within the rally-closing Wolf Energy Stage. He leapt from fifth within the standings to steer by 5 factors after six of 13 rounds.
RESULTS (TOP TEN)
1. Kalle Rovanpera/Jonne Halttunen (Toyota GR YARIS Rally1) 3:40:24.9 secs
2. Elfyn Evans/Scott Martin (Toyota GR YARIS Rally1) +52.8 secs
3. Takamoto Katsuta/Aaron Johnston (Toyota GR YARIS Rally1) +1 min 42.7 secs
4. Sebastien Ogier/Benjamin Veillas (Toyota GR YARIS Rally1) +2 minutes 10.3 secs
5. Thierry Neuville/Martijn Wydaeghe (Hyundai i20 N Rally1) +10 minutes 40.9 secs
6. Craig Breen/Paul Nagle (Ford Puma Rally1) +23 minutes 27.9 secs
7. Jourdan Serderidis/Frederic Miclotte (Ford Puma Rally1) +30 minutes 16.5 secs
8. Sebastien Loeb/Isabelle Galmiche (Ford Puma Rally1) +32 minutes 12.6 secs
9. Kajetan Kajetanowicz/Maciej Szczepaniak (Skoda Fabia Rally2 evo) +35 minutes 37.6 secs
10. Oliver Solberg/Elliott Edmondson (Hyundai i20 N Rally1) +37 minutes 36.6 secs
The story behind TOYOTA GAZOO Racing and why it was created
