Two-minute lead no guarantee of victory in toughest modern Safari Rally

Elfyn Evans says an nearly two-minute lead isn’t any assure of victory after wild situations have rendered this 12 months’s Safari Rally the hardest because the occasion rejoined the World Rally Championship.

The WRC factors chief survived extremely difficult situations to move into Sunday’s closing 5 levels with a 1m57.4s lead over Hyundai’s Ott Tanak after Kalle Rovanpera’s victory bid suffered a setback.

Evans is the one Rally1 driver to not undergo a significant situation after 16 levels as a combination of brutal roads and chaotic moist climate wreaked havoc upon his rivals. That being stated, the Welshman did spin in stage 14 and ran out of windscreen washer fluid, which hampered his visibility on Saturday afternoon.

“We have now had just a few dramas and it has undoubtedly been troublesome on the market,” stated Evans. “It has undoubtedly been a correct Safari to this point. A two-minute lead, usually you’d say that will assure a win, however not likely right here.

“I’ll attempt to drive nicely and see after just a few levels if [Super Sunday] factors is perhaps attainable and we are going to proceed to go for them, however I’m not going for an all-out banzai assault tomorrow.”

Evans’ lead stood at 7.7s over Rovanpera at the beginning of Saturday, however a pair of punctures dented the Finn’s bid for a third Safari Rally win.

Rovanpera then struck a rock within the moist stage 14, which required an emergency makeshift restore utilizing ratchet straps to allow the two-time world champion to limp again to service.

“It was not straightforward and on this automotive we had by no means damaged this half, so it appeared we didn’t have so many choices to work with,” stated Rovanpera.

“However we discovered one thing small to place there so not less than we may begin the stage and get again right here. We undoubtedly want some good factors from tomorrow now.”

Toyota suffered one other blow to its Safari bid when Takamoto Katsuta suffered his sixth puncture of the occasion thus far. Regardless of battling meals poisoning, the Japanese delivered a surprising stage-winning time in waterlogged situations on stage 14 that hauled himself into podium competition.

Katsuta would have moved into third had he averted a puncture on the day’s closing stage, however as an alternative needed to accept fourth, 5m06.6s adrift of Evans.

Hyundai enjoys podium turnaround as Safari wreaks havoc

Hyundai had been dealing with the potential for shedding grip of the rostrum positions altogether with the i20 Ns struggling within the treacherous moist situations amid Katsuta’s cost as much as shut in on third-placed Tanak.

Tanak and an under-the-weather Thierry Neuville each endured their very own points throughout Saturday afternoon, however in the end capitalised on the issues for Rovanpera and Katsuta to take a seat second and third respectively.

Tanak was unable to duplicate Friday’s rally-leading tempo, whereas a puncture in stage 11 proved pricey. He then fell into the clutches of Katsuta on account of a misting windscreen on stage 14 that severely restricted his visibility in a few of the hardest WRC situations in latest reminiscence.

Thierry Neuville, Martijn Wydaeghe, Hyundai World Rally Crew Hyundai i20 N Rally1

Picture by: Fabien Dufour / Hyundai Motorsport

Crew-mate Neuville, affected by sickness that robbed him of priceless sleep on Friday night time, described ending the day in third as a reward given the circumstances.

“It’s onerous to explain how powerful it has been on the market for a number of causes, initially I wasn’t feeling nicely and I had a really dangerous night time,” stated Neuville, who will take a 33.2s margin over Katsuta into Sunday’s closing 5 levels.

“I actually struggled to maintain my focus and do the job, however we saved combating and we obtained rewarded.

“They have been unbelievable situations this afternoon and I’ve by no means seen something like that in my whole profession, and to get by and be rewarded with a 3rd place in a single day is nice.

“We have now had some tough Safaris however that is undoubtedly the roughest we now have had to this point, and it isn’t over.”

In the meantime, M-Sport-Ford drivers Gregoire Munster and Josh McErlean managed to select their manner by the extremely troublesome situations to say a 1-2 on the timing screens in stage 15.

The pair have been lucky to expertise marginally the most effective of the horrible situations on account of their street place however their efforts have been commendable, although Munster joked {that a} “jet ski” would have been higher to navigate by the moist sections.

Munster ended the day sitting in seventh, 11m02s adrift of the lead whereas McErlean, who misplaced half an hour to a steering arm restore within the morning loop, sat in thirteenth, behind M-Sport privateer Jourdan Serderidis in tenth place.

Gus Greensmith managed to carry off Jan Solans to guide the WRC2 class in eighth general.  

Rally Safari leaderboard after SS16: