Safari Rally, SS7: Rovanperä flies, Lappi and Tänak ko | FP

Rovanperä undisputed leader

The specific objective of Kalle Rovanperä on the eve of Safari Rally 2024, in addition to his part-time season, was to be able to obtain the first victory of this year in Kenya, where the Finn entered the roll of honor in 2022. Judging from the second day of this edition, the Toyota driver already seems more than favored to succeed on African soil, not only for the considerable gap he boasts over his teammates, but also for the 'assists' provided by Esapekka Lappi and Ott Tänakwho until this afternoon seemed to be the only ones capable of countering the two-time world champion.

Six wins out of six internship

Rovanperä which, in reality, did not know any real rivals during the second day of the Safari Rally, with well six victories on six stages overall, from SS2 to SS7. A perfect performance for someone who intends to reaffirm themselves in Kenya and at the same time make up for the mistake made in the last round in Sweden. During the morning, Lappi and Tänak tried in every way to keep up with the pace of their rival, who however outdid himself in SS4, inflicting a gap in the general classification of more than 10 seconds. The two pilots thus represented the only hope for the Hyundaieven more so following one puncture and a loss of the hybridbetween SS3 and SS4, which forced Thierry Neuville to leave the top-5, 50 seconds behind the leader.

The double knockout

All in all, problems incomparable to those of his two teammates, starting with Lappi. Once the afternoon sessions began, the Finn was in fact the protagonist of a accident, resulting in damage to the transmission. In addition, in SS6, Tänak also made a similar mistake, ending up against a tree after hitting a rock. A double knockout which thus provided a sensational assist to the two Toyota by Evans and Katsutarespectively 2nd and 3rd at the end of the day in the general classification. With Rovanperä increasingly leading after SS7, the latter is momentarily leading with a lead of 56 seconds over his Welsh teammate and a minute over Katsuta. The latter, however, has to defend himself from the return of Neuville, 7 seconds behind the podium area.

Safari Rally, ranking after SS7 – Top 10