Toyota’s Kalle Rovanperä took a clear win in Kenya, collecting the largest haul of points, but only by a one-point margin over Thierry Neuville. Notably, Neuville finished the rally in fifth place, more than ten minutes behind Rovanperä.
Neuville scooped over half of his points on the final day of the rally. On Sundays in WRC events, a maximum of 12 points is available, and in the Safari Rally, Neuville managed to collect 11 points, bringing his total to 19 points.
Ford driver Adrien Fourmaux, who finished third in the rally, earned two points fewer than Neuville, despite clearly outperforming the Belgian in the competition itself.
“It’s quite frustrating to see a driver like Thierry, who finishes fifth almost eleven minutes behind, scoring more points than us in third place,” Fourmaux expressed in an interview with the French site Rallye-sport.fr.
“However, finding ourselves in this situation nonetheless shows that we are doing a good job, and that’s what we need to focus on,” the French driver added.
Fourmaux was referring to his status as one of the biggest successes this season. Last season, he was gaining pace in the WRC2 class, but this year he secured a spot in M-Sport Ford’s main team, where he has been delivering outstanding performances.
Fourmaux achieved his first podium finish at the Rally Sweden, where he came third, and now in Kenya, he secured another third-place finish. In the championship standings, he is impressively in third place, behind Neuville and Toyota’s Elfyn Evans.
Next, Fourmaux aims for success at the Croatia Rally, scheduled in two weeks. Three years ago, he finished fifth in the asphalt event.
Fourmaux is confident that the Ford Puma Rally1 car will perform well around Zagreb.
“Statistically, I’ve made more mistakes on asphalt than on gravel, so we need to be cautious about that. At Monte Carlo, we lacked a bit of performance on the asphalt. For Croatia, we’ll have the new rear wing, but also some tweaks to the geometry and suspension,” Fourmaux stated.
“I think we’ve made a significant step in asphalt development. Additionally, I’m more familiar with the car now, and the confidence factor is also important. Since last year, I’ve been gaining confidence bit by bit,” the Frenchman added.
