Elfyn Evans says an virtually 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 endure a significant challenge after 16 levels as a mix of brutal roads and chaotic moist climate wreaked havoc upon his rivals. That being mentioned, the Welshman did spin in stage 14 and run out of windscreen washer fluid, which hampered his visibility on Saturday afternoon.
“Now we have had just a few dramas and it has undoubtedly been tough on the market. It has undoubtedly been a correct Safari to this point. A two-minute lead, usually you’d say that may assure a win, however probably not right here,” mentioned Evans.
“I’ll attempt to drive properly and see after just a few levels if [Super Sunday] factors could be doable and we’ll proceed to go for them, however l’m not going out for an all-out banzai assault tomorrow.”
Evans’ lead stood at 7.7s over Rovanpera at first of Saturday, however a pair of punctures dented the Finn’s bid for a 3rd 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,” mentioned Rovanpera.
“However we discovered one thing small to place there so a minimum of we may begin the stage and get again right here. We undoubtedly want some good factors from tomorrow now.”
Takamoto Katsuta, Aaron Johnston, Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT Toyota GR Yaris Rally1
Photograph by: Toyota Racing
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 successful time in water-logged situations on stage 14 that hauled himself into podium competition.
Katsuta would have moved into third had he prevented a puncture on the day’s closing stage, however as a substitute needed to accept fourth, 5m06.6s adrift of Evans.
Hyundai enjoys podium turnaround as Safari wreaks havoc
Hyundai had been going through the opportunity of dropping grip of the rostrum place 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 Neuville each endured their very own points throughout Saturday afternoon, however in the end capitalised on the issues for Rovanpera and Katsuta to sit down second and third respectively.
Tanak was unable to exchange Friday’s rally main tempo, whereas a puncture in stage 11 proved pricey. He then fell into the clutches of Katsuta attributable to a misting windscreen on stage 14 that severely restricted his visibility in among the hardest WRC situations in current reminiscence.
Thierry Neuville, Martijn Wydaeghe, Hyundai World Rally Group Hyundai i20 N Rally1
Photograph by: Fabien Dufour / Hyundai Motorsport
Group-mate Neuville, affected by sickness that robbed him of beneficial sleep on Friday evening, described ending the day in third as a reward given the circumstances.
“It’s exhausting to explain how powerful it has been on the market for a number of causes, to start with I wasn’t feeling properly and I had a really dangerous evening. I actually struggled to maintain my focus and do the job, however we saved preventing and we acquired rewarded,” mentioned Neuville, who will take a 33.2s margin over Katsuta into Sunday’s closing 5 levels.
“They have been unbelievable situations this afternoon and I’ve by no means seen something like that in my whole profession, and to get via and be rewarded with a 3rd place in a single day is nice. Now we have had some tough Safaris however that is undoubtedly the roughest we’ve got had to this point, and it’s not over.”
In the meantime, M-Sport-Ford drivers Gregoire Munster and Josh McErlean managed to choose their method via the extremely tough situations to say a 1-2 on the timing screens in stage 15 [Elmenteita, 17.31km]. The pair have been lucky to expertise marginally the very best of the horrible situations attributable to their highway place however their efforts have been commendable, although Munster joked {that a} “jet ski” would have been higher to navigate via 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 total.
On this article
Tom Howard
WRC
Toyota Racing
Be the primary to know and subscribe for real-time information electronic mail updates on these matters
Subscribe to information alerts
