Tänak once again set the fastest time as the 19.11-kilometre Loldia stage was run for the second time on Friday.
Among the frontrunners, only Toyota’s Elfyn Evans came somewhat close to matching the Estonian’s pace, finishing 2.6 seconds off the benchmark time.
Hyundai’s Thierry Neuville, who had taken the previous stage win, continued to show promising pace but lost 6.4 seconds to his teammate. However, Neuville arrived late at the start after once again repairing his car and received a 50-second time penalty.
Toyota’s Kalle Rovanperä was the fourth-fastest driver on the stage. The Finn couldn’t keep up with the leaders and dropped 7.6 seconds. However, next up is one of his favourite stages in Kenya: Kengen Geothermal, which will be run again as part of Friday’s itinerary.
In the overall classification, Tänak now leads the rally by 46.1 seconds over Evans. Although Rovanperä had been steadily closing in on Evans during the afternoon, the gap has now increased slightly again. Rovanperä remains third, now trailing Tänak by 1 minute and 2 seconds.
Neuville holds fourth, but the Belgian is burdened by a two-minute time penalty.
Toyota’s Takamoto Katsuta sits fifth overall. The Japanese driver now has a comfortable gap to Toyota’s Sami Pajari and M-Sport Ford’s Josh McErlean.
McErlean suffered technical issues on SS8 and was forced to drive a large portion of the stage at road section speed.
Two more stages remain on the Friday itinerary of Safari Rally Kenya. The event concludes on Sunday.
Safari Rally Kenya standings after SS8/21:
| POS | Driver | Car | Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | Ott Tänak | Hyundai | 1:45:28.4 |
| 2. | Elfyn Evans | Toyota | +46.1 |
| 3. | Kalle Rovanperä | Toyota | +1:02.6 |
| 4. | Thierry Neuville | Hyundai | +2:15.1 |
| 5. | Takamoto Katsuta | Toyota | +3:45.5 |
| 6. | Sami Pajari | Toyota | +5:00.5 |
| 7. | Josh McErlean | Ford | +5:54.3 |
| 8. | Gregoire Munster | Ford | +8:43.3 |
Safari Rally Kenya, itinerary (CET):
Wednesday, 19 March
08:01 Shakedown: Sleeping Warrior SEZ (5.16 km)
Thursday, 20 March
11:05 SS1: Super Special Kasarani (4.76 km)
14:43 SS2: Mzabibu 1 (8.27 km)
Friday, 21 March
05:13 SS3: Camp Moran 1 (31.40 km)
06:51 SS4: Loldia 1 (19.11 km)
08:04 SS5: Kengen Geothermal 1 (13.18 km)
08:57 SS6: Kedong 1 (15.10 km)
09:52 Service (40 min)
11:30 SS7: Camp Moran 2 (31.40 km)
13:08 SS8: Loldia 2 (19.11 km)
14:21 SS9: Kengen Geothermal 2 (13.18 km)
15:14 SS10: Kedong 2 (15.10 km)
Saturday, 22 March
06:35 SS11: Sleeping Warrior 1 (26.97 km)
07:35 SS12: Elmenteita 1 (17.31 km)
08:33 SS13: Soysambu 1 (28.97 km)
10:59 Service (40 min)
13:05 SS14: Sleeping Warrior 2 (26.97 km)
14:05 SS15: Elmenteita 2 (17.31 km)
15:03 SS16: Soysambu 2 (28.97 km)
Sunday, 23 March
04:42 SS17: Mzabibu 2 (8.27 km)
05:53 SS18: Oserengoni 1 (18.33 km)
07:05 SS19: Hell's Gate 1 (10.53 km)
08:18 Service (15 min)
09:56 SS20: Oserengoni 2 (18.33 km)
12:15 SS21: Hell's Gate 2 (10.53 km) *Power Stage
