Autosport Podcast: WRC Safari Rally preview

The WRC has ventured to the wilds of Kenya’s savannah for the second time since the iconic rally’s re-introduction to the calendar last season after a 19-year hiatus.

Drivers and co-drivers will contest 19 stages comprising 363.44kms featuring rough gravel stages that present several challenges from deep fesh-fesh sand, to wildlife roaming Kenya’s famous plains and the added challenge of changeable weather.

The entry list features 12 Rally1 cars headlined by championship leader Kalle Rovanpera with the Toyota driver equipped with a 55-point lead over Hyundai’s Thierry Neuville.

Team-mate Ott Tanak has jumped to third in the championship following his breakthrough victory at Rally Sardinia earlier this month.

Multiple world champions Sebastien Loeb and Sebastien Ogier rejoin the field for their third starts of the year, offering the prospect of another battle between the WRC’s greatest drivers of all time.

Toyota’s Ogier won the the Safari Rally last year, while nine-time world champion Loeb will rejoin M-Sport Ford for his first Safari 20 years after his first, when driving for Citroen in 2002.

Join host Martyn Lee and Autosport’s WRC reporter Tom Howard as they discuss all the talking points ahead of the four-day event. Hear from Loeb and Ogier as they explain some of the challenges they will face in conquering Kenya’s iconic stages.