WRC | Safari Rally, SS11: Neuville slips to 5th due to engine trouble

When everything seemed to be going in the direction of Thierry Neuville, here comes a blow that could have major repercussions on the 2024 Drivers' World Championship. The afternoon lap of the second stage of the Safari Rally started with the 39.32 kilometer Soysambu 2, with the Belgian who was was the great negative protagonist.

Neuville was heading towards winning the stage victory when at kilometer 24, therefore 5 from the end of the stage, he saw his i20 N Rally1 shut down. At that point, after numerous attempts to continue, he decided to use only the electric motor to complete the test.

The time lost trying to restart and close the special was so much, over two minutes, that it dropped him from second to fifth place in the general classification of the Safari Rally. And to say that Hyundai had also taken important precautions for this afternoon lap, fitting the snorkel in anticipation of the penultimate and last test, where the fords will play a very important role.

With the problem he had during the special, Neuville falls back behind Elfyn Evans – fourth – his rival for the championship and now 20 seconds ahead of him. The good news is that at the end of the special Neuville and Wydaeghe seem to have managed to restart the combustion engine of their i20, continuing towards SS12.

Thanks to the problem that occurred in Neuville, Takamoto Katsuta not only won SS11, but also regained second place behind the elusive Kalle Rovanpera, now leading by over 2 minutes and 20 seconds over the first of his pursuers.

Also virtually on the podium is Adrien Fourmaux, who is seeing his fairly fast, but above all careful driving rewarded (also due to inexperience at the Safari and a less high-performance Ford Puma compared to Toyota and Hyundai). However, the Frenchman from M-Sport will have to be very careful, because now Evans will try to recover and give Toyota the hat-trick again.

At Hyundai, Neuville's problems were not the only problems they had to take note of. Ott Tanak has the window of his door secured badly, therefore during the internship he saw a considerable amount of sand enter the cockpit which made driving difficult, but also for Martin Jarveoja to dictate the notes. In short, for the Korean company this Safari is turning into yet another ordeal.