NAIROBI, Kenya, Mar 12 – As predicted, heavy rains pounded the Naivasha area to make the route brutal as drivers battled in the mud for supremacy that saw Swedish Norwegian driver Oliver Solberg emerge victor in the opening day to guide his Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 to a lead of almost half a minute over team-mate Elfyn Evans.
The 24.35km Camp Moran test proved decisive as admitted by Solberg, who said the conditions were among the most unpredictable he had experienced.
“It was an adventure already,” Solberg smiled at the finish. “I was a bit surprised by the gaps, but I just tried to have a rhythm and read the road. Sometimes it was dry, then all of a sudden wet around the corner.”
Evans survived a particularly fraught run to hold second overall. The Welshman ran out of washer fluid midway through stage, leaving him struggling for visibility as mud coated his windscreen before a late rain shower helped clear it.
-Ogier find it hard-
Nine-time world champion Sébastien Ogier ended the opening two stages third, more than a minute adrift of the lead after predicting the large time swings that the conditions would create.
Drama struck elsewhere across the field as Takamoto Katsuta lost his intercom before the opening stage, forcing co-driver Aaron Johnston to resort to hand signals. Despite that, the pair trailed Ogier by just 10.2sec in fourth overall with Toyota team-mate Sami Pajari almost one minute behind.
-Hyundai struggle-
Hyundai Motorsport endured a difficult start to the rally, with all three of its i20 N Rally1 cars suffering overheating issues as thick mud clogged their radiators on SS2.
“Obviously, very difficult conditions out there,” sixth-placed Thierry Neuville admitted. “I don’t know actually how you can describe it at the end – you don’t find the words for it. We weren’t in the best road position for that, so we lost a lot of time.
“In the last one we overheated. I think all three Hyundais overheated – the radiator’s full of mud. I tried to clean it before the stage but there was still too much dirt on it.”
M-Sport Ford’s Jon Armstrong impressed on his Rally1 gravel debut to hold seventh, the Irishman describing SS1 simply as “muddy, muddy stuff”. His team-mate Josh McErlean languished 14th after nursing a rising water temperature on SS2.
Hyundai duo Adrien Fourmaux and Esapekka Lappi followed in eighth and ninth while Gus Greensmith completed the top 10 and led the WRC2 category on his Toyota GR Yaris Rally2 debut.
-By WRC-
