The second stage of the 2024 Safari Rally was expected to be a real watershed moment in the third WRC event of the season and, at the end of the first lap, we can affirm that up to now it has been.
Kalle Rovanpera confirmed that he is the driver to beat this weekend, continuing to dominate the rally by making perfect use of his perfect starting position (the same one he had yesterday). This led him to further increase his margin over his rivals thanks to a perfect SS10, the long-awaited Sleeping Warrior of 36.08 kilometres.
This led him to finish the morning lap with a margin of 1 minute and 28 seconds over the first of his pursuers. And this is exactly where the news begins. Behind the two-time world champion there are no longer his teammates, but Thierry Neuville and Martijn Wydaeghe with the only Hyundai i20 N Rally1 remaining in the race.
The Belgian crew managed to complete this morning's three tests unscathed (although they ran SS10 without the help of the hybrid), while their direct rivals for the podium ran into bad luck and mistakes that made them slip back.
The first to relinquish his position was Elfyn Evans. The Welshman stopped on SS8 to replace a damaged tyre, dropping from second to fifth place in the general classification. As if that wasn't enough, on SS10, the fearsome Sleeping Warrior punctured the right rear again, losing further precious seconds.
It didn't go any better for Takamoto Katsuta, who until the end of SS9 had dominated second position but found himself in full battle with a threatening Thierry Neuville after winning SS9 with a great time.
The Japanese driver from Toyota punctured the front right a few kilometers from the end of SS10, losing ground to Neuville. Thus the overtaking by the Hyundai driver took place, and in the afternoon he will be able to manage a 55 second margin over his Toyota rival.
With Elfyn Evans' double puncture, Adrien Fourmaux moved up to fourth in the first and now only official Ford Puma Rally1 Hybrid remaining in the race. Gregoire Munster damaged his left rear suspension in today's first test and, despite his efforts to fix it during the transfer between SS8 and SS9, he was forced to retire.
Gus Greensmith thus gains a position and is now sixth overall, as well as dominating the WRC2 with the Skoda Fabia RS Rally2 of the TokSport team. Jourdan Serderidis, always very careful despite the pace of a gentleman driver, remains eighth after being overtaken on SS10 by Oliver Solberg, author of an excellent stage.
The morning lap of the second stage of the 2024 Safari Rally ends here. Now the drivers will be able to take advantage of the mid-day service before the afternoon lap which will always see them engaged in the same three tests already tackled this morning. The rally will resume with SS11, the 29.32 kilometer Soysambu 2. The first car will enter testing at 12.34 pm Italian time.
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