Ogier joy and Neuville despair on Safari
A superb performance from Thierry Neuville was undone by a late Hyundai failure on a gruelling event, helping the Toyota star to extend his points lead
The Safari Rally is one of motorsport’s toughest adventures, conjuring up images of rallying’s greatest being tested to their limit in Kenya’s beautiful but harsh terrain. While the event’s long-awaited return to the World Rally
Championship after 19 years wasn’t the 1000km marathon of the past on open roads, this shorter 2021 revamp was just as extreme, brutal and rewarding, as Sebastian Ogier will attest.
The seven-time champion survived all Kenya could throw at him to etch his name among the greats to have conquered the Safari.
“It was a relief after such a crazy weekend,” said Ogier, who produced an incredible comeback to extend his championship lead. “I think everyone predicted a bit of an entertaining weekend and it definitely delivered, so many things happened.”
The Toyota driver’s words couldn’t be more accurate. This was an event packed with drama, brushes with Kenya’s famous wildlife, heartbreak, joy and finally relief. A rally where drivers were prevented from engaging maximum attack for the entire contest as speed was traded for preservation to complete 18 of the toughest stages the WRC can muster. Only five WRC crews completed the full distance.
For the third consecutive rally, a recurring theme was ever-present. Hyundai dominated the opening two days as
Thierry Neuville produced a blend of mesmerising speed and risk-taking, avoiding run-ins with zebras and a giraffe, to open up a commanding lead, while Ogier dropped two and a half minutes due to damaged rear suspension on his Toyota.
As was the case in Portugal and Italy, when Hyundai is leading and appears in control, drama strikes in the form of fragile rear suspension. This time, Neuville was robbed of a likely victory, while a recovering Ogier persevered to sweep up the spoils.
It was another moment of despair for Hyundai as its championship hopes continued to wilt.
COVID-19 postponed the Safari’s return by a year, but the delay only increased Kenya’s fervour, and the rally became the championship’s first long-haul event since the pandemic hit.
Any question marks surrounding the WRC’S decision to return to Africa for the first time since 2002 were answered as soon as the action began last Thursday. Make no mistake, the Safari Rally is a big deal in Kenya, and fans lined the streets just to catch a glimpse of the cars on their way to stages. A bumper crowd at the two-bytwo Super Special opener in Nairobi was particularly vocal with its cheers, proving the love for the WRC is strong in these parts, and perhaps a 19-year hiatus was indeed far too long.
Ogier claimed the Super Special, but it would be his only stage win until Saturday, such was Hyundai’s dominance on the tricky gravel and treacherous sandy roads. Neuville impressed from the outset, winning the first stage as the rally proper began on Friday, a day that would outline exactly how hard the Safari can bite.
Oliver Solberg, making his WRC debut on gravel, was the first to find out. The son of 2003 WRC champion Petter made heavy contact with a bank and damaged his Hyundai. The impact would
prove to be terminal as his i20 had suffered chassis damage and, despite some on-the-road repairs, his one-off drive ended prematurely. “Today we learned that it’s not just the lions that bite at the Safari Rally, it’s the stages too,” said Solberg.
He was soon joined by two of the WRC’S top guns when the infamous 18-mile Kedong stage provided plenty of drama. Title contender Elfyn Evans cut a corner a tad too much and clipped a rock, taking out his Toyota’s front-right suspension less than a kilometre from the finish. Moments later, Hyundai’s Dani Sordo hit a rock, which broke a suspension arm, resulting in the Spaniard firing wildly off the road and into a ditch. Both drivers would return to action on Saturday under restart rules.
Ogier also hit trouble, overshooting a corner before damaging his rear suspension, which proved costly. He would lose almost two and a half minutes by the end of the day.
The only problems troubling Neuville were of the wildlife variety – he came close to a giraffe on his way to an impressive stage win. “The pacenotes were spot-on and I was able to go fast. The only thing which were not in my notes were the giraffes. I was a bit scared that it was going to cross just when we arrived, but at the end it went well and the picture looks nice,” said a concerned Neuville, given that the WRC cars were running in European specification as teams elected not to fit bullbars to save costs.
Kalle Rovanpera, whose father Harri finished runner-up to Colin Mcrae at the last WRC Safari Rally in 2002, took up Toyota’s charge and briefly claimed the rally lead in the afternoon, before handing a 10-second advantage back to Neuville ahead of the day’s chaotic final stage. Neuville suffered a left-rear-tyre delamination, a front-right off the rim and an engine issue, dropping almost 40s to his rivals. Third-placed Ott Tanak looked to take advantage of his team-mate’s plight, but he too suffered a tyre failure (the front left) and lost 54.9s. It appeared that Rovanpera, running second, would therefore scoop up a healthy lead, but less than a kilometre into the stage he became bogged in Kenya’s infamous fesh fesh sand, suspending action while he was towed out of danger.
The Finn would return on Saturday.
After all that, Neuville headed into Saturday with a healthy 18.8s lead over Toyota’s Takamoto Katsuta, who started the rally week battling food poisoning. Tanak was third, while Ogier, recovering from his suspension issues, was 1m49s adrift in fourth. M-sport Ford pair Gus Greensmith and Adrien Fourmaux avoided danger and remained in the hunt, despite the majority of their squad watching from the UK due to COVID-19 travel restrictions.
Neuville extended his rally lead significantly on Saturday morning, claiming a fourth stage win to end the loop of stages with a 28.1s buffer to Katsuta. After Friday’s carnage, Saturday was much more serene by Safari standards, although the wildlife was out in force to keep the crews on their toes. “I tried to drive clean,” said Ogier, who scored two stage wins as he began to reel in Katsuta and Tanak. “I had to brake a lot for zebra and gazelle.”
Katsuta also put some of his time loss down to the four-legged hazards: “I lost quite a lot of time to zebras, but it was nice to see them on the stage. It’s a good safari park.”
Despite having to jump on the anchors to avoid a zebra for the second time, Neuville continued to extend his lead in the afternoon. But just as the crews had started to get comfortable, Kenya
“The pacenotes were spot-on. The only thing not in my notes were the giraffes”
pitched a curveball in the form of a rain storm that hit the leading contenders through the day’s final stage.
Neuville threw caution to the wind, determined not to lose his rally lead, while the rain caused havoc for Tanak. A broken heated windscreen, only on his side, left him driving blind, so he pulled over and cleared it manually, losing a minute in the process.
Meanwhile, Katsuta haemorrhaged time during a stage he described as “very scary”, but managed to cling onto second overall, albeit 57.4s behind Neuville, who feared he’d lost his lead given that his rivals had better conditions. The Belgian’s ballsy drive paid off; he extended his lead, while Ogier leapfrogged Tanak to third and closed in on Katsuta. M-sport duo Greensmith and Fourmaux escaped relatively unscathed and continued their strong showing.
“I was determined to keep driving as fast as I could, even in the four or five sections where there was a heavy downpour,” said a relieved Neuville. “Keeping the car on the road wasn’t
“At the end never giving up always works in rallying, and more so here in Africa”
easy, but we managed it.”
With just five stages remaining, Neuville seemed on course to score his first win since last year’s Monte Carlo Rally, but Hyundai’s worst nightmare returned on Sunday’s first stage. In a matter of seconds, the rally he had led from stage two was over. A right-rear damper exploded mid-stage, forcing Neuville to limp to the end before retiring. A sickening blow for Hyundai yet again.
That left Katsuta, who has been the surprise package of the season, leading a rally for the first time in his WRC career and on course for a maiden podium, although a hard/soft tyre mix going up against a soft-shod Ogier in damp, humid conditions was to prove no match. Ogier quickly clawed back time, taking the outright lead with only the powerstage remaining. Once again he’d outlined his ability to survive, push at the right time, and his resilience to fight back from a deficit and poor road position.
The Frenchman was relieved to just finish the final stage, and was unconcerned by the bonus powerstage points on offer as he clinched what was an unthinkable win after Friday’s troubles, and celebrated Safari-style accompanied by a group of Kenya’s Maasai warriors. Kenya’s president Uhuru Kenyatta was on hand to present the trophies, before pledging that the Safari would remain on the WRC calendar until 2026.
“I was not thinking I would be stepping on the podium and winning this rally, but at the end never giving up always works in rallying, and more so here in Africa,” said Ogier.
Katsuta completed the best drive of his WRC career to finish second, 21.8s adrift of Ogier, score a landmark first podium and secure another Toyota 1-2. Tanak was third, salvaging silverware and the full powerstage points for Hyundai.
“I’m very happy and it is quite a special feeling because it has been a tough weekend,” said Katsuta. “In the beginning of the week I had food poisoning and I have been quite sick and it was so difficult to do the recce, but now we are here. Our physio and the guys fixed me so in the rally I didn’t have any problems.”
M-sport’s sensible Safari approach paid off with its best team result of the season, with Greensmith fourth and Fourmaux fifth. Rising French star Fourmaux landed a milestone moment by scoring his maiden stage win on the final day, highlighting his potential. His only blemish was a shortcut during Sunday’s opener that yielded a 10s post-event penalty, dropping him from fourth to fifth.
Such was the rate of attrition on this event that Kenya’s Onkar
Rai claimed the WRC3 support class by finishing seventh overall.