Safari Rally lives up to the billing as tough contest

Finland's youngster Kalle Rovanperä won the World Rally Championship Safari Rally in style at the end of Sunday’s action in the picturesque Hell’s Gate National Park, Naivasha on the floor of the Great Rift Valley.

The Finn overcame sickness, historic glue-like mud and rocky gravel tracks to win the sixth leg of the World Rally Championship by 52.8sec in a GR Yaris Rally1.

Victory extended his lead in the WRC drivers’ standings to 65 points.

Welshman Elfyn Evans, 33, finished second, 49.9sec clear of Japan’s Takamoto Katsuta, with Sébastien Ogier of France fourth.

It was Toyota’s first 1-2-3-4 since Kenya 1993 and the first in the WRC for 12 years.

Thierry Neuville won the Wolf Power Stage to claim five bonus points in a Hyundai i20 N.

Sébastien Loeb scored four in second in a Ford Puma with Ogier taking three in third.

Gus Greensmith secured two points in fourth in another Puma with team-mate Adrien Fourmaux netting one.

The Rovanpera family's trophies have swelled into two. His father Harri Rovanpera finished second in 2002 when his son was only a few months old.

As the rally ended, there was a huge roar of approval by local followers of the performance of Kenyan/African drivers who entered various categories of the competition.

Kenyan-born Ugandan Amanraj Singh Rai took top position, 12th overall and Kenyan favourite Carl Tundo finished in 13th place.

But Tundo would not be entered in the official WRC overall standings. He was instead hit with a cash fine for failing to display a mandatory sign board after stopping in the ‘Sleeping Warrior Stage’.

Tundo had beaten all local entrants in all except the opening stage of the final day’s programme and his time, 4:47:13.4 had only been bettered by Rai (4:45:16.4).

Tundo won the Kenya National Rally Championship (KNRC) category in the rally and was followed by Jasmeet Chana driving another Mitsubishi Lancer Evo10.

Kenyan woman Maxine Wahome, 25, had a rally to be proud of finishing 16th overall and bettering men crews in the FIA Rally Star WRC3 programme.

Her cumulative time of 5:20:21.6 beat sibling Jeremy Wahome (18th; 5:45:49.0), McRae Kimathi (20th; 5:47:29.3) and Hamza Anwar who was unclassified.

Earlier on Sunday morning Kalle Rovanpera extended his Safari Rally lead over Toyota teammate Elfyn Evans as the current World Rally Championship leader closed in on a memorable victory.

Rovanpera quickly notched up a fifth stage win of the event to increase a 40.3s overnight lead into a 50.6s advantage over Evans as Toyota remained on course to a 1-2-3-4 with Katsuta third in 1min 46.2s and ahead of last year’s Safari winner Seb Ogier almost three minutes in arrears.

Jourdan Serderidis the Greek and only privateer in the WRC Rally1 class (Ford Puma) had an extremely satisfactory Safari, finishing seventh and in the WRC2 class Kajetan Kajetanowicz of Poland (Skoda Fabia Evo) placed ninth.

Sean Jonston (Citroen CX3) and fellow American Alex Kihurani whose father is Kenya-born were 11th.

Sunday’s finale featured three stages – each run twice – located on the southern side of Lake Naivasha. Oserian (17.93km) and Hell’s Gate (10.53km) sandwiched Narasha (13.30km) – another new test which rose from the arid floor of the Rift Valley across historic Maasai grazing lands.

The second pass through Hell’s Gate, which finished amid stunning scenery at Fishers Tower, formed the Wolf Power Stage with bonus points on offer for drivers and manufacturers.

The survivors then returned to Naivasha for the afternoon finish ceremony.

This year’s edition of the Safari Rally was tough, just like that run on the old format. Unexpected rain tested the hybrid cars to the extreme.

In the end, it was hailed as a break from traditional ice and tarmac races in Europe, and once again demonstrated that it will last in the championship for a long time.