The legendary Safari Rally returned to the World Rally Championship calendar in 2021, and every year since, Toyota has celebrated victory in the event. That was the case again last weekend, as championship leader Elfyn Evans drove to the win.
But this time Hyundai got two drivers onto the podium, with Ott Tänak taking second place and Thierry Neuville finishing third. In previous years, Hyundai had only managed a single podium spot – Tänak’s third place in 2021.
Although Hyundai still missed out on victory, the result felt almost like a win for the team.
“It’s definitely positive to bring the two cars home in a good position. So for sure I’m quite happy with the result,” Tänak told RallyJournal.com.
“It’s been a long time since Hyundai was on the podium, and this time we had two Hyundais on the podium. So we scored strong points,” the Estonian star summed up.
Hyundai had previously struggled with reliability issues with its car in Kenya. This weekend wasn’t entirely problem-free for Tänak and Neuville either, but they made it to the finish without retiring. And that brought a good haul from the savannah.
“The team has improved the car; reliability was better. There are still some things we can improve, but at least we’ve been moving in a good direction, and it’s positive for the future,” Tänak said.
Tänak had a lead of nearly a minute at best on Friday afternoon. But then the driveshaft on his car broke, causing him to drop out of the lead.
“It was a bit unfortunate that we lost two minutes on Friday. But in the end, we are again super positive about the podium,” said Tänak, who climbed to third in the championship standings.
Check the latest WRC standings here.
Conditions were extremely gruelling over the weekend. Most of the drivers faced setbacks on the rocky roads, in the fesh-fesh dust, and in Saturday’s mud bath.
Tänak confirmed the weekend was extremely tough and challenging. The Hyundai star’s summary of the rally was rather blunt – and yet it told the whole story.
“I didn’t enjoy it at all,” Tänak laughed.
The next round of the World Rally Championship will take place in the Canary Islands at the end of April.
