How Ogier held his nerve to repeat Toyota's Safari WRC rout

“I rarely have had to fight like this. Sometimes you have to fight hard against the clock and against your competitors, but this time it was more fighting against all the issues I had to face.”

Such a frank admission from a World Rally Championship legend of Sebastien Ogier's renown is a perfect summary of last weekend’s 70th Safari Rally Kenya. While the event is no longer the brutal 5000km marathon that started the nation’s cultural obsession with rallying back in 1953, the trip to the African wilderness remains one of motorsport most gruelling events, where reaching the finish is an achievement.

This was once again proved by the fact that all the Rally1 crews dropped time across the 355km journey through the Kenyan terrain. For the 58th win of his WRC career, Ogier had to overcome a myriad of scenarios to see off reigning champion and Toyota team-mate Kalle Rovanpera to claim one of his hardest-fought victories. The winning margin of 6.7s was fittingly the closest in event history.

While luck plays a huge part in determining success or failure, it appears that one thing you can rely on is Toyota’s resilience in tackling Kenya’s unique challenges. For the second year in a row the marque recorded an impressive 1-2-3-4, as Ogier led home Rovanpera, Elfyn Evans and Takamoto Katsuta.

This was something of a turnaround for a team that headed to Africa licking its wounds following the watersplash woes that cost it so dearly in Sardinia earlier this month. This remained a topic of discussion heading into the Safari Rally, with weather forecasters predicting a week punctuated by rain. That became a footnote after crews completed the recce.

“It’s proper Safari spec, and I would say more than we have seen in the last couple of years,” claimed M-Sport Ford star Ott Tanak. “In some places it’s like driving on the moon. It’s going to be quite a lottery.

“There are stones and rocks and things in places that are quite difficult to understand where they have come from. For sure, if it’s raining we will have some deep mud holes as well. It's not going to be about the fastest driver that will win. It will be the first driver to finish. You need to be lucky.”

Rovanpera added: “Some parts of the stages are really different. We’ve been changing the pacenotes completely and some corners are not there and some corners are new.”

Rovanpera felt after the recce that this year's stages had significant differences

Photo by: Toyota Racing

Tanak’s pre-rally words would ring true, with the Estonian experiencing good and bad luck over the next 24 hours. The 2019 world champion claimed Thursday's opening stage, a head-to-head battle around the Kasarani superspecial in the centre of a rally-mad Nairobi. It’s here where the locals’ passion for rallying is most evident, and fans lined the roads all the way from the ceremonial start to the stage, cheering their heroes before a wheel had been turned in anger.

After seeing off Evans in his duel, Tanak’s effort pipped Ogier by 0.1 seconds to grab an early lead. It was also the first chance for Hyundai’s Esapekka Lappi to properly experience Kenya’s stages after the event debutant suffered a double propshaft failure that prevented him from competing any shakedown runs. He set the sixth fastest time ahead of Katsuta, who was fortunate to be there after mechanics were forced to repair his GR Yaris following a shakedown roll. Some of the debris from the incident emerged in the hands of the local fans, who repurposed it as a makeshift table.

Friday’s return to host city Naivasha, north-west of Nairobi, was the start of the true Safari Rally. The day’s six stages were dominated by Ogier. He won four of them to open up a commanding 22.8s lead over Rovanpera, who impressed while opening the roads. It wasn’t completely plain sailing for Ogier, who lost hybrid power on stage four. But it was his risky call to take one spare tyre instead of two that played into his hands, and he took advantage of perfectly judging when to push with his lighter GR Yaris.

Neuville had a bizarre situation when a large insect provided an unwelcome distraction: "It looked like a bee but it was two times bigger. After two corners it came into the car and then into my crash helmet"

“At first people thought it was a risky choice, but in the end it was a calculated one after seeing the conditions this morning of the first two stages of the loop were not that rough in terms of tyre risk,” explained Ogier, who was lucky not to lose time to a wandering zebra on a high-speed section: “The zebra had a good idea to turn at the last minute, it could have been bad.”

Evans ended the day in third, 43.5s back, but was lucky after driving through a bush before picking up a puncture. Lappi led Hyundai’s charge in fourth after an eventful day that included suffering a right-rear-tyre delamination. The Finn inherited fourth from team-mate Thierry Neuville, who became the event’s first Rally1 retirement.

Neuville had already endured an eventful morning due to a right-front puncture in the morning and a bizarre situation when a large insect provided an unwelcome distraction in stage two. “It was strange – it looked like a bee but it was two times bigger,” related the Belgian. “After two corners it came into the car and then into my crash helmet and I was distracted. I didn’t know if it was dangerous or not, but after a while it went into the back of the car.”

The bee distraction was soon replaced by the heartache of front-left suspension failure that put the Hyundai out of the victory battle on stage six (Geothermal). “There was no warning at all,” said Neuville. “The damper came out of its position, the driveshaft went immediately and it was all over. It’s frustrating and it has hit us very hard.”

Suspension failure put an end to Neuville's hopes of big points before he was then disqualified from the event altogether and docked his powerstage victory

Photo by: Tomek Kaliński

Amazingly, Katsuta completed Friday in fifth, despite having to repair a lower suspension arm, a run-in with a zebra, and a tree that left his GR Yaris looking second hand. The Japanese wasn’t the only driver delayed by Kenya’s wildlife; overnight leader Tanak had to slow in the first run through Loldia.

“It has been like driving in a zoo,” exclaimed the M-Sport man. “First, we met a pig in the road and then we had a group of zebras who didn’t give a f*** that we were coming.”

Tanak’s rally hopes were dealt a significant blow two stages later in the 30.62km Kedong test when a tyre came off the rim, costing him over two minutes and dropping him to sixth overall behind Hyundai’s Dani Sordo. M-Sport team-mate Pierre-Louis Loubet enjoyed an unusual start to the event when he faced the pressure of taking Kenya’s president William Ruto for a ride in his Puma. But his Friday didn’t provide much glamour when an engine issue followed by two wheel changes left him more than seven minutes adrift.

Overnight rain provided a new challenge on Saturday, with slippery muddy sections more prevalent. It didn’t halt Ogier’s charge, although a puncture four kilometres from the end of the day’s opening test provided a scare. The Toyota driver still won stage eight by 7.6s from Rovanpera, who seemed content to hold station in second given title rivals Neuville and Tanak were down the order.

"In our case we need to think about the championship also, because the guys in the championship are much more behind and the good points are coming,” pointed out Rovanpera.

That stage did produce a change in the leaderboard. Evans suffered a deja vu moment from Sardinia when his GR Yaris stalled in a watersplash. It cost the Welshman 45s, handing Lappi third overall. Lappi’s time in third was short-lived though as his shakedown gremlins returned. A third propshaft failure triggered a retirement and plenty of head scratching at Hyundai, which had deployed containment measures after communication with its Alzenau base. A thorough internal review will be carried out in the coming weeks.

“I was on the throttle and accelerating and there was a big bang,” said a frustrated Lappi as his exit handed Toyota a 1-2-3-4. “I don’t know what is going on but clearly something is wrong if it happens three times during the rally. The guys need to investigate very carefully.”

At the front, Ogier began to stamp his authority on the event. He headed into Saturday’s final test with a 32.0s lead over Rovanpera, who admitted “if nothing happens it's impossible to catch Seb by driving, I don't want to take huge risks anymore”.

Rovanpera cleaved into Ogier's lead in the tricky wet conditions on Saturday afternoon to set up a thrilling final day showdown

Photo by: McKlein / Motorsport Images

But something did happen. The much-anticipated rain finally arrived, drenching the already incredibly tough Sleeping Warrior stage. Slippery conditions are where Rovanpera shines the brightest, and he lived up to his reputation.

A stunning effort in some of the worst conditions in recent Safari Rally memory resulted in the Finn scything into Ogier’s lead, reducing it to 16.7s heading into the final day. Ogier’s 15.3s time loss to Rovanpera was partly thanks to a double front puncture in the stage.

“Last year was slippy but nothing like this,” reported Rovanpera. “Even on the straights, second gear was quite high-speed. We are here in one piece.” Ogier added: “I cannot say that I have so much luck with these tyres, but that's the way it is.”

Rovanpera’s heroics set up an intriguing final day. Toyota boss Jari-Matti Latvala confirmed that there would be no team orders, but firmly reminded his drivers what was at stake. To Ogier’s surprise, Rovanpera pushed on Sunday morning in the roughest stage of the rally (Malewa, 8.33km). The result created tension as Rovanpera halved the deficit to 8.6s with five stages remaining after an effort he nonchalantly described as “nothing special”.

"The whole weekend was a hell of a rally for us and a hell of a fight. We have had some difficult weekends and still win but definitely this one, the amount of things thrown at me was probably the highest of any event" Sebastien Ogier

“For someone playing the championship, it was a nice talk,” sniffed Ogier. “There are huge rocks everywhere on the road and I had to nearly stop. I was surprised in the place that he attacked because that was completely insane.”

A grandstand finish seemed to be on cards when Ogier made a small error in the next stage that ripped the entire tailgate from the GR Yaris following a small touch with a tree. But if anything, Toyota’s new wingless wonder was faster, and Ogier pumped in his seventh stage win to restore the time lost in the perilous test.

The tension mounted heading into the final three stages, with the pair split by 13.0s after a midpoint service where Ogier’s Toyota returned to its factory specification. The drama was far from over, and Kenya had one more ordeal to throw at its competitors in the form of fesh-fesh sand. This threatened to derail all four of the Toyotas as Ogier, Rovanpera, Evans and Katsuta all reported overheating issues on the penultimate stage after their cars ingested sand.

Ogier fared the worst. It looked as though Rovanpera, who had a tyre come off the rim, would inherit the lead, before a mid-stage recovery ensured Ogier would take a 9.2s lead into the final powerstage.

Ogier didn't let up his pace on the final day despite losing his read bodywork

Photo by: Tomek Kaliński

The sand had taken its toll on the Toyotas and they tackled the powerstage finale down on power, but that wasn’t the final twist in the tale that panicked Ogier. His car scooped up a rock that smashed his windscreen, but luckily, from a visibility point of view, it struck the co-driver’s side – and avoided puncturing the radiator. Panic over, a relieved Ogier was able to put aside all of the hurdles thrown at him to clinch a victory that will live long in his memory.

“The whole weekend was a hell of a rally for us and a hell of a fight,” sighed Ogier. “We have had some difficult weekends and still win but definitely this one, the amount of things thrown at me was probably the highest of any event.

“Honestly up to the last finish line I was still not sure it will be enough, and even the stone in the last kilometres almost damaged my radiator. At the same time Kalle was having great speed and not far behind and I was thinking, ‘When will I be able to drive smoothly without something slowing me down?’”

Evans clinched third, albeit almost three minutes adrift, while fourth-placed Katsuta’s eventful week ended with a leaking radiator. Toyota’s claiming of the top four positions for the second consecutive year highlighted that Hyundai and M-Sport have work to do before next year’s visit. Sordo emerged as the best of the rest, five minutes behind after dropping time lost in this own dust and with a power-steering issue.

There was a small ray of light for M-Sport, which finished sixth and seventh with Tanak and Loubet, who both suffered two wheel failures each. Tanak’s points tally was boosted by being declared the powerstage winner at midnight on Sunday after Neuville, who had rejoined following his retirement, was disqualified from eighth for breaching recce regulations – a crew had been checking stages for rocks without authorisation.

While the weekend severely dented Neuville’s title hopes, the season appears to be swinging towards Rovanpera. Although disappointed to lose to Ogier, he is 41 points ahead of Evans with six events remaining.

“When you miss out on the win by a small margin like this then it’s not always the best feeling for a driver,” he outlined. “But at the end we still scored good points for the championship.”

Who would bet against a second title?

Despite losing out on victory to Ogier, Rovanpera made big gains on his main championship rivals

Photo by: Toyota Racing