Kalle Rovanperä shines on the challenging rally tracks in Kenya.
The two of you the previous season’s rally world champion Kalle Rovanperä ran away from the others in the Kenyan Safari Rally after the first day of actual driving.
Toyota driver Rovanperä leads his map reader Jonne Halttunen with the one who is second in the competition, also driving a Toyota Elfyn Evansia by almost 57 seconds.
After seven special tests, Toyota’s triple lead is secured by Rovanperä’s good friend, who lives in Jyväskylä Takamoto Katsuta. He is already more than a minute behind the leader.
Rovanperä, who is racing a limited number of World Series races this year, gassed up the bottom times in all six special tests today. Rovanperä, who won Safari the other year, did not think his driving was “particularly good”.
“I’ve tried to drive smart, I don’t drive crazy, because I have teammates behind me,” Rovanperä said in an interview with the organizers, referring to Toyota’s three-man management.
Hyundai’s Esapekka Lapin the trip was cut short on the side of the road on special test 5 due to a gearbox failure. After special test 4, he was second in the overall race after Rovanperä.
At the end of the day, the top of the competition got mixed up once again in the special tests. After Rovanperä, Hyundai was second after special test 5 Ott Tänak crashed his car into a rock with the next speed bump. The car’s support arm broke, and Tänak stopped.
The third World Series race of the season, the Safari rally, will run six special stages on Saturday. The competition ends on Sunday.