Rovanpera and co-driver Jonne Halttunen managed to tame Kenya’s wild terrain to complete a largely untroubled run to a dominant victory – their first of a partial campaign this year. The pair were the only Rally1 crew to avoid any major delays in what is renowned as the WRC’s toughest rally on the calendar.
Rovnapera won seven of the 19 stages to lead home a Toyota 1-2 as Takamoto Katsuta bounced back from crashing out in Sweden to finish second, his third podium in four visits to Kenya.
The podium was completed by M-Sport-Ford’s Adrien Fourmaux, who backed up a maiden WRC podium finish achieved in Sweden last month with a fine third.
The Safari Rally continued to be Hyundai’s bogey event as punctures and reliability issues once again hampered championship leader Thierry Neuville and Sweden winner Esapekka Lappi, while Ott Tanak was caught out by a rock in stage six.
In the latest edition of Gravel Notes, Autosport’s WRC reporter Tom Howard is joined by rally journalist Luke Barry to dissect all the key talking points from Kenya. The pair also discuss how an upset stomach brought back bad memories for one of the co-hosts and select their stars, unsung heroes and best quotes from the rally.
