NAIROBI, March 26 (Xinhua) — The World Rally Championship’s (WRC) Kenya Safari Rally kicks off Wednesday with pre-event shakedown in Naivasha, a few kilometers northwest of Kenya’s capital, Nairobi.
Shakedown allows drivers and their navigators to check the set-up of their rigged machines and make adjustments before the final inspection before the start of the race.
This week’s Safari Rally, which concludes on Sunday, is shaping up to be one of the toughest since returning to the FIA WRC in 2021.
Heavy rain in the days leading up to the race muddied the roads and some teams suffered damage on some stages.
The event’s advancement in the calendar has brought the Safari back to its usual March date, which coincides more with the rainy season in Kenya, with 29 participants allowed to start the actual event on Thursday.
To deal with potentially flooded roads, many cars use snorkels, which allow the engine to breathe and reduce the risk of drinking water.
Toyota Gazoo Racing team principal Jari-Matti Latvala has admitted that the occasion may be another tougher test than in previous years as the Japanese manufacturer aims for a fourth consecutive win in the WRC’s African circular.
“Patience is very important, especially if the weather gets tricky. Being the smartest may be the key, rather than being the fastest. All our drivers have shown what it takes to do well there and we’d like to see some other Toyota. win,” Latvala, who is a retired driver, told the WRC’s official online page on Tuesday.
Sebastien Ogier, eight-time world champion and winner of last year’s Safari, will compete on this year’s occasion for Toyota. However, the team will have reigning champion and 2022 Safari winner Kalle Rovanpera parading in his GR Yaris Rally1 car alongside Welshman Elfyn Evans. and Japanese ace Takamoto Katsuta, who stood on the podium twice in Kenya.
Evans arrives at Safari in the 2024 WRC standings with forty-five points, championship leader and Hyundai Motorsport star Thierry Neuville, who has 48 in the opening stages of Monaco and Sweden. Esapekka Lappi will be looking to continue his winning streak after picking up a popular win in Sweden in February. The Finn, who drives part-time for Hyundai, will drive his i20 N Rally1 car for the South Korean marque alongside Neuville and Estonia’s Ott Tänak.
The third factory team at WRC 1’s flagship festival is M-Sport Ford WRT. Adrien Fourmaux is the favourite for his Puma Rally1 device as he claimed his first podium in Sweden. Grégoire Munster and Jourdan Serderidis complete the British team’s team.
The competitions that will take place throughout this year’s main event race are the WRC2 and WRC3 championships.
WRC2 is limited to production cars homologated under the Rally2 Group (or the old R5) regulations. There are separate express championship titles awarded to teams, drivers and co-drivers open to the greater elegance of 30-year personal entries.
Entry to WRC3 is limited to cars based on production models and homologated according to Rally3 Group rules, prior to 2022 cars from the Rally2 Group were used.
Meanwhile, local organizers are confident in the world that this year’s event will go off without a hitch. At the heart of the dispute are claims for hundreds of dollars in unpaid invoices to vendors, service providers and voluntary assignments of the Safari Rally since its return to the WRC.
Concern for the party intensified last week when it was announced that party director Jim Kahumbura had resigned, but the decision was reversed hours later. Kahumbura was among those who held an audience with the president on Monday.