A battle of two legends, a phenomenal result for Toyota, a flawless Rovanperä: What did the tough Safari Rally in Kenya show?

The WRC had its sixth event of the season on the weekend – Safari Rally Kenya. And it brought many things, whether it was another duel between two icons and absolute WRC legends or a flawless performance by the current championship leader – Kalle Rovanpera.

After the events in Monte-Carlo and Portugal, the fans saw another duel between two undisputed WRC legends and icons – Sébastien Loeb and Sébastien Ogier.

Both drivers are running their own partial seasons this year, which means they choose certain events and are not part of the complete World Championship.

Loeb dominated the opening event in Monte-Carlo, but unfortunately crashed after the first few metres in the last rally in Portugal, bringing his second event of the season to a swift end. Ogier has 19 points to his name after finishing second in Monte-Carlo and, like Loeb, did not score in Portugal.

However, the battle between the two ultimately went much better for Ogier, who won last year’s rally in Kenya.

Loeb vs. Ogier or the battle of two legends

Ogier won the first leg in Kenya, with the other French icon finishing fourth. However, it was Loeb who dominated the second leg, with the reigning world champion setting the third fastest time.

Ogier scored further stage wins in Saturday’s fifth and sixth stages, and then in Sunday’s 13th stage. Loeb had to wait until the final stages, namely the seventeenth and eighteenth, to set another fastest time.

It should be noted, the Safari Rally was much better managed by Ogier, Loeb was here for the very first time in his career. That’s also why Ogier gave a fairly consistent performance, finishing in the top five every time except for two stages.

Moreover, Loeb’s finish to Friday’s action was not at all successful, finishing 23rd, 22nd and 17th.

In the final standings, Loeb is only eighth, having lost over half an hour to the winner of this rally. Ogier was fourth in the standings, two minutes and ten seconds behind the winner Rovanper.

Rovanperä – this year’s world champion?

The Finnish driver is unstoppable this year. After victories in Sweden, Croatia and Portugal, Rovanperä has already claimed his fourth triumph this year! In Kenya, he only needed to win five stages to take the overall victory, and in the final showdown he boasted a 52-second lead over second-placed Elfyn Evans.

In the Drivers’ Championship standings, Rovanperä has a huge 65-point lead over Thierry Neuville in the Hyundai before the halfway point of the season.

A phenomenal result for Toyota Gazoo Racing

First, second and fourth place – Toyota absolutely dominated the Safari Rally Kenya. Rovanperä drove to victory in the sixth round of the season, leaving both Evans and Ogier teammates behind.

In addition, Takamoto Katsuta, another driver from the Japanese carmaker, took third place in the final standings. However, he defends the colours of the Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT NG team.

Toyota drivers scored eleven wins out of a possible nineteen in Kenya! Finn Rovanperä took five of them, Ogier finished first four times and Evans took the stage win twice.

In the Constructors’ Cup, Toyota has collected 246 points so far, while second-placed Hyundai is 62 points behind the Japanese team. Third place with 144 points belongs to the M-Sport Ford WRT team.

Drivers’ Championship & Constructors’ Cup

As we wrote above, the Drivers’ Championship is led by Finn Rovanperä with 145 points. Second is currently Belgian Neuville, who has scored 80 points so far this season and has scored three stage wins in Kenya.

Further down the standings, it is a very close battle, with Ott Tänak guarding third place for now (62 points), Katsuta in fourth with the same number of points, Craig Breen in fifth (60 points) and Evans in sixth (57 points).

The battle of the legends is so far led by Loeb, who is seventh in the overall World Championship standings with 35 points, with Ogier and Spaniard Dani Sordo only one point behind. Gus Greensmith rounds out the elite ten drivers’ championship with twenty-eight points.

Sources: WRC, Safari Rally Kenya