How Rovanpera showed his class above his WRC rivals in Kenya

“I think you cannot do a better Safari Rally than what we did,” said Kalle Rovanpera as he clambered out of his Toyota GR Yaris after a dominant run to a second career Safari Rally victory. The reserved yet supremely talented double world champion is not one for making big statements, often preferring modesty when discussing his own skills and achievements. But on this occasion, it’s difficult to disagree with his claim as Rovanpera and co-driver Jonne Halttunen delivered one of the most intelligent and faultless performances ever witnessed on the World Rally Championship’s toughest rally.

The Safari Rally is renowned as a battle of attrition, where survival takes precedence over outright speed. Crews expect trials and tribulations while attempting to tame Kenya’s wild terrain, unpredictable weather and car-destroying roads. However, this wasn’t the case for Rovanpera as his “clever” driving coupled with a bulletproof Toyota left his rivals in the distance.

“At this rally if you finish like this it is big relief because you are not fighting with all the drivers all the weekend, you are fighting the conditions,” said 23-year-old Rovanpera upon achieving a 12th career WRC win to draw one clear of 1984 world champion Stig Blomqvist. “We had no issues for the whole weekend, and it was such clever driving, I think it was a good effort.”

A decision to move the event back to its more traditional March date in Kenya’s rainy season triggered fears that this year’s event would be even tougher. This view heightened following a recce during which crews became literally stuck in the mud. To prepare for such conditions, Rally1 cars took on a rather retro Safari look, as the snorkel returned to WRC’s top tier following a change in the FIA regulations that had previously prohibited the devices for Rally1 machines.

Toyota, M-Sport-Ford and Hyundai added snorkels to their Kenya survival kits, with the kings of the African event, Toyota, unveiling an elaborate an aero-efficient design. In truth, the snorkels were hardly required as the expected torrential rain, that can turn roads into ice-like slippery mud, failed to arrive. Hyundai’s system only appeared on Saturday afternoon, while Toyota’s and M-Sport’s were permanent features.

Given its rich pedigree in Kenya, boasting 11 wins, Toyota was the pre-event favourite but the pace advantage it once held over its arch-rivals Hyundai had seemingly decreased following the off-season upgrades to the i20 N. But while Hyundai, victorious in Monte Carlo and Sweden, made gains in one area it was unable to shake its Kenya hoodoo.

It was Hyundai that started on the front foot as championship leader Thierry Neuville eclipsed his title rival Toyota’s Elfyn Evans in Thursday’s Kasarani superspecial head-to-head in front of a vociferous Nairobi crowd. The time was 0.1 seconds faster than Hyundai team-mate Ott Tanak, in search of a much-needed clean rally following mistakes in Monte Carlo and Sweden. Rovanpera sat third, 0.8s behind and poised to lead Toyota’s charge on Friday when the rally headed north-west through the beautiful Great Rift Valley back to its base in Naivasha.

Neuville started strongly before being the first Hyundai driver to hit trouble

Photo by: Red Bull Content Pool

Hyundai’s hopes of adding to its concerning record of only one podium in three previous visits to Africa were soon in jeopardy on Friday morning as one by one Kenya hobbled its three charges. First to hit trouble was overnight leader Neuville when he clipped a rock with the right-rear. The tyre exploded towards the end of stage three, costing the Belgian 19.9s. The flailing rubber ripped the i20 N’s bodywork to shreds, forcing Neuville and co-driver Martijn Wydaeghe to think on their feet to complete a repair utilising a tree branch and a cloth that reminded Neuville of a hit American television show.

“For the last stage we had to do some MacGyver stuff to try and survive in the dust but it wasn’t as bad as expected, and in the end we got through with no problem,” said Neuville, as he and Wydaeghe completed the morning loop without hybrid power and wearing goggles to combat dust that entered the car.

Fresh from breaking a six-and-half-year WRC victory drought at Rally Sweden, Esapekka Lappi was in good spirits and it showed as he took the fight to Rovanpera. But it must seem as though he’s upset the Safari Rally gods somehow as his bad luck at the event continued. Sitting in second, 15.5s behind Rovanpera, Lappi suddenly ground to a halt in stage five when his i20 N’s gearbox exploded. The failure arrived after suffering four propshaft failures in the same rally last year that earned him the nickname ‘Mr Propshaft’ within the Hyundai ranks. This year the propshaft had been beefed up but the gearbox, another known Hyundai weak point, was again exposed by Kenya’s harsh roads.

Hyundai’s day to forget was contrasted by the perfection from Rovanpera, who completed a clean sweep of fastest times form the day’s six stages despite fighting “horrible” understeer in his GR Yaris

“Esapekka's retirement is a reliability issue and we are not happy with that but we can't do much about that within the current [homologation joker] rules, it is difficult to fix it,” said Hyundai technical direction Francois-Xavier Demaison.

A frustrated Lappi saw little point rejoining the rally on Saturday given the car’s weakness.

To compound Hyundai’s misery, Tanak – who inherited second following’s Lappi’s demise – crashed out on the following test, the second pass through Geothermal. Tanak was unable to avoid a large rock in the middle of the road that carried his i20 N offline and into a bank, causing terminal damage. “I had nowhere to go really so I had to take the rock and it was far too big and it put us off the road,” he said. “I don't think the rock did too much damage, but I hit the bank so hard, and we got all the damage from there.”

Hyundai’s day to forget was contrasted by the perfection from Rovanpera, who completed a clean sweep of fastest times form the day’s six stages despite fighting “horrible” understeer in his GR Yaris that left him perplexed by his winning time in stage two. But Rovanpera showed his class and ability to pick through everything Kenya can throw at competitors by posting a stunning effort in stage four, 11.1s faster than anyone else. As Hyundai’s challenge wilted in the Kenya heat, Rovanpera ended Friday with a comfortable 56.7s lead from Evans, who also struggled for confidence before a set-up change ignited an afternoon push.

Evans initially struggled for pace until a set-up tweak unlocked some speed

Photo by: Red Bull Content Pool

A third consecutive Toyota Safari podium lockout appeared on the cards thanks to cautious and smart driving from Takamoto Katsuta, who was 3.9s behind Evans. Neuville recovered to fourth in front of the M-Sport-Ford duo Adrien Fourmaux and Gregoire Munster, who methodically skipped through Kenya’s hazards trouble-free, a feat worth its metaphorical weight in gold.

Kenya’s demanding roads plus the threat of rain on Saturday ensured Rovanpera couldn’t afford to relax. “The plan was to use our starting place well and push when it is clear and still have a bit of margin to take care in the rough places in the afternoon, and still do good times, so I am happy,” he said. “I wouldn’t say it [the lead] is enough and not even close to being enough.”

‘Patience’ was the buzzword from the Toyota camp despite its stranglehold on the rally. “The most important thing is to be patient because if the rain comes it will be about survival,” said team boss Jari-Matti Latvala.

Heavy rain fell overnight but by the time the crews headed to the stages on Saturday morning the roads had dried in the most part. While the rain stayed away, a dry Kenya stage can still bite hard as Evans and Katsuta learned to their detriment.

The Toyota duo suffered double punctures across the morning loop. Evans lost his left-rear in stage eight and a right-rear in the infamous Sleeping Warrior test, the only stage that featured the standing water remains from the overnight rain. It dropped the Welshman from second to fifth.

“I was driving as well as possible,” said Evans. “You just have to do the best rhythm and drive to the notes you made on the recce. The two punctures are a mystery, not ideal.”

Front and rear-right failures for Katsuta dropped the Japanese to third behind Neuville, who took aim at the event organisers as rocks that were not on the recce had appeared in the stages.

Saturday's action saw both Evans and Katsuta struck by costly punctures

Photo by: Toyota Racing

“I hit something and got a puncture but there was nothing on the recce so I was very surprised, but this can happen,” said Katsuta, who had won stage eight, where he was driving “blind” thanks to the dust breaching the cabin of his GR Yaris. “It was very unfortunate, but you need luck here.”

Neuville added: “We were told that the road wouldn't be modified after recce. We had a big moment. They put big stones in the middle of the road.”

While angry by the state of some sections of stages, Neuville ultimately benefited from the pain suffered by his rivals. But once again the prospect of a podium was cruelly snatched from his grasp. An intermittent fuel system issue prompted a series of stoppages. The frustration was clear to see on Neuville’s pained face as he nursed the car back to service in fifth, losing more than 10 minutes.

"Thierry’s issue is something we haven’t really seen before, so we need to have a look at the data and the fuel tank to understand what is going on" Cyril Abiteboul

“I’m really disappointed with the outcome when you put some much effort into that work and your preparations, and you don’t get the reward, and it is the fourth consecutive year we have been hit by trouble, it doesn’t feel very good,” said Neuville. “It is not a Safari-related issue, which is even more frustrating.”

Hyundai team principal Cyril Abiteboul added: “Thierry’s issue is something we haven’t really seen before, so we need to have a look at the data and the fuel tank to understand what is going on.”

This wasn’t the only drama Hyundai encountered as its Kenya woe continued. The returning Tanak battled issues with his car on a road section before stage eight and was forced to pull over in-stage to fasten a flapping bonnet, before then losing his intercom on the next test.

Lappi also didn’t receive his wish to complete only the morning loop to save his weak transmission. After clipping a zebra in the morning, two birds struck his car in separate incidents that smashed his windscreen sent fragments into his eyes. Lappi was reduced to crawl through the day’s final stage. A second transmission failure on Sunday was the final dose of misfortune for the hacked-off Finn.

Lappi suffered a huge chunk of misfortune in Kenya

Photo by: Austral / Hyundai Motorsport

“The windscreen cracked immediately and I could live with that, it was not too bad but a couple of kilometres later there was another strike and now the windscreen was really inside [the car],” said Lappi. “I couldn’t see anything anymore and we needed to slow down a lot as it was not safe to drive.”

Saturday proved to be a day of chaos and incident. Munster retired from sixth when he hit a rock that resulted in terminal damage to his Ford Puma’s left-rear suspension. Munster would rejoin the rally on Sunday. Meanwhile, Evans’ tyre troubles continued as two further punctures left himself mired in fourth, 5m35.6s adrift of the lead. It did earn him 10 provisional points under the new points system, two more than Neuville, who limped to service.

At the front, Rovanpera seemingly had the Midas touch. His ability to know when to attack and when to back off was faultless, and with his rivals delayed the world champion took a 2m08.9s lead over Katsuta.

Pressed on how much of his success was down to genius or luck, he said: “That is difficult to know, really, but for sure I’m quite confident that I’m doing well also. We have good notes and I am taking quite good care, I don’t have any big hits and the tyres have been in quite good condition, so it has to be something at least.”

Rovanpera put one hand on 18 Saturday points with Katsuta taking a handy 15. But it was M-Sport’s Fourmaux who was among the happiest of the drivers as his Rovanpera-like approach was rewarded with third and 13 points. The Frenchman’s enjoyment was plain to see, dishing out a “shake and bake” Talladega Nights movie reference with a beaming smile on his face after a strong run through stage 12. A puncture picked up towards the end the following test was his only drama.

Afforded with such an advantage, Rovanpera cruised through Sunday’s six stages to record one of the most impressive victories of his career by 1m37.8s from Katsuta, who bounced back from his Sweden crash with a third podium in four Kenya outings.

“It is always special, this event is so tough and also it is a legendary event for Toyota,” said Rovanpera. “Like they say here in Africa: ‘The car in front is always a Toyota’.”

Rovanpera's faultless drive saw him stretch clear of his rivals

Photo by: Toyota Racing

A point backed up by Katsuta: “It was a tough rally like always, so we need to say a huge thanks to the team because they prepared very well. I made some mistakes, but I could always trust the car.”

M-Sport also firmly answered its reliability critics as Fourmaux brought the Puma home safely in third, becoming the first driver since Dani Sordo in 2006 to follow up a maiden career WRC podium finish with a second rostrum in the following event.

“We have been sensible, but it has been really positive,” said Fourmaux, who took 17 points [13 Saturday, four on Sunday] to remain third in the championship. “We have had one podium on snow, one on gravel so now we need one on Tarmac.

“We got a lot of criticism last year [about our reliability] but after three rallies we have scored two podiums,” added team principal Richard Millener. “I think that speaks for itself in some ways.”

Rovanpera is only tackling half a season this year but Kenya proved that when the going gets tough the Finn is in a class of his own

Neuville survived slamming into a boulder in the middle of stage 16 to finish fifth overall, although finishing second in the Super Sunday classification and a Power Stage win extended his championship lead over Evans to six points, despite finishing behind his rival!

The Welshman finished fourth overall, third on Sunday, and could only take a solitary point from the Power Stage. Tanak managed to salvage 12 points, benefiting the most from the new points system after winning Sunday’s six-stage leg.

Rovanpera’s almost perfect drive perhaps was only rivalled by the heroics of WRC2 winner Gus Greensmith, who finished sixth overall despite battling a stomach bug.

While Rovanpera is only tackling half season this year, Kenya proved that when the going gets tough the Finn is in a class of his own.

The Finn might be on a partial campaign in 2024, but he has lost none of his world champion credentials

Photo by: Toyota Racing