Greensmith performed exceptionally well in his first points-scoring event of the season, winning the WRC2 category of the Safari Rally Kenya by more than three minutes over Toyota’s Jan Solans.
Of course, the British driver’s task was made significantly easier by the fact that Oliver Solberg got stuck in the sand and was forced to retire. But still: a win is a win, and a dominant win is even better.
Greensmith’s winning streak in Kenya continued. He also took a class victory in Africa last year. Unlike then, however, the Brit had somewhat mixed feelings after the rally this time.
“We’ve won Kenya two years in a row,” the Brit told WRC.com.
“And, for some reason, I’ve won the first rally of my championship the last three years in a row, so it’s becoming a bit of a habit and I’m very happy,” Greensmith continued.
But then Greensmith’s tone changed.
“But I wouldn’t say it’s been my best performance – far from it, actually. The performance was far less dominant than last year, which is the negative to take from the weekend,” he said, criticising himself.
Toyota brought the GR Yaris Rally2 car to the market last year. The rally car, largely built and developed by Finnish expertise, has proven its competitiveness. And that worries Greensmith, who competes in the WRC2 class with a Škoda Fabia Rally2 car.
“There’s definitely a lot to come, and we definitely need to find a lot, because the Toyota [GR Yaris Rally2] is fast – really fast. Now we’re heading into a really busy and highly competitive middle part of the season and we just need to carry this through better than last year,” Greensmith demanded.
The British driver knows exactly what he’s talking about. After all, Toyota’s Rally2 car is quite a familiar machine to him.
“I tested the GR Yaris at the back end of last year,” Greensmith revealed.
“And the thing is, it feels like you’re not trying but the time is just there. So, if you can then access that second part, then it’s very hard to beat. That’s been the premise of what I feel – it’s a very easy car [to drive], and Jan [Solans] and Kajto [Kajetanowicz] have made huge steps from last year. I’m not saying that’s all down to the car, but for sure it seems to have helped,” the British driver continued.
Greensmith’s season continues next in May at Rally Portugal. The British driver will skip the tarmac event in the Canary Islands taking place at the end of April.
