NAIVASHA, Kenya, June 24 – Sebastien Ogier is back on the summit of WRC Safari Rally Kenya after winning the repeat run of the 19-Km speed test at Loldia.
Ogier had lost the lead to his Toyota Gazoo Racing teammate Elfyn Evans when he returned fourth fastest on the first pass of the Geothermal stage.
But the eight-times champion regained his lead on Loldia2 where he beat Takamoto Katsuta by a 4.6-seconds to win the stage.
Meanwhile, Sebastien Loeb’s chances of a maiden Safari win went up in smoke following an engine problem on the initial run of the mid-morning first loop.
The nine-time World Champion Sébastien retired on the transport road section after the day’s third speed test at Kedong ending his aspirations for one of the Championshi’s most coveted accolades.
Loeb will incur a 10-minute penalty per every stage missed on loop two today should the M-Sport mechanics manage to fix the damage on his Puma Rally1 well in time for Saturday.
After a 5th overall position in the 2002 event, Loeb has definitely put his maiden Safari aspirations in huge jeopardy. What this means is that he has no realistic chance of catching up with the leaders after penalty dynamics play out..
The M-Sport legend was left to rue fuel pressure gremlins which ended his Safari aspirations and here is what he had to say about his morning woes: “Its game over for today.” Tomorrow, we are not really sure if we can repair and restart the rally. But we will decide what to do later today after we see what we have broken in the car.”
Loeb had just cleared the 31-Km Kedong Stage when smoke was seen from beneath the hood and was forced to stop at the side of the road.
“I finished the stage but the car packed up just 5kms from the end of the section as we were headed for first service,” added Loeb.
’Adrien Fourmaux became the second M-Sport driver to kiss the event goodbye on the repeat run of the 19-Km Loldia test.
Results After Ss6 Geothermal 2
1. #1 Fra S. Ogier Fra /B. Veillas (Gr Yaris Rally1) 1:03:02.0
2. #18 Jpn T. Katsuta Irl /A. Johnston (Gr Yaris Rally1) 1:03:10.6
3. #69 Fin K. Rovanperä Fin J. Halttunen (Gr Yaris Rally1) 1:03:14.9
4 #33 Gbr E. Evans Gbr S. Martin (Gr Yaris Rally1 ) 1:03:16.2
5 #8 Est O. Tänak Est M. Järveoja (I20 N Rally1) 1:03:35.1
