Friday began under the command of Hyundai driver Ott Tänak, who racked up stage wins one after another. Meanwhile, Elfyn Evans in second and Kalle Rovanperä in third steadily lost ground to the flying Estonian.
But the situation flipped in the afternoon, when Tänak broke a driveshaft on his Hyundai. The Hyundai star dropped from a commanding lead to third place, behind Evans and Rovanperä.
Rovanperä stuck to his plan and didn’t panic, even when the gap to Tänak at its worst was nearly a minute. By the end of the day, the Finnish star had climbed to second place, just 7.7 seconds behind his Toyota teammate Evans.
“It was pretty good day. The morning lopp could have been definitely better. I lost some time on the narrow and technical roads – a bit like previous years, but of course this year a bit too much. I wasn’t feeling comfortable over there with the car,” Rovanperä said.
“Other than that it was clever day. We got the car back in one piece. I was sure that when some of the others were pushing so hard, then something can happen.”
That last remark from Rovanperä came with a subtle jab at Hyundai. Hyundai stars Thierry Neuville and Ott Tänak had been significantly faster than the Toyota drivers on the second pass of Camp Moran, a long and extremely rough stage.
But after Camp Moran, Tänak’s troubles began, and Neuville was handed a 50-second time penalty for arriving late to the next stage start due to repairs.
“In the afternoon it was more about controlling the pace. In the long one Thierry ja Ott were really fast, but I’m not really surprised that something happened because it was super rough. It feels like the car is exploding any second in the stage.” Rovanperä described.
“The recipe is the same every year how to do it. Every year there are some guys who are super fast, but will not be fastest at the end.”
If anyone knows the winning formula for Safari Rally Kenya, it’s Rovanperä, who has won the event twice. Of Hyundai’s top duo, only Tänak has made it to the podium in Kenya — once.
“The winner here is not the one who’s fastest on every stage. You just have to drive steadily and keep the car in one piece. That alone can take you pretty far,” Rovanperä concluded.
