Thierry Neuville’s hopes of a podium on Safari Rally Kenya are in jeopardy, after an apparent fuel pump issue dropped the Hyundai driver from second to fifth place overall.
Problems began aboard the i20 N Rally1 halfway through the second pass of Soysambu, when Neuville’s car ground to a halt.
While changing settings in the center of the car, co-driver Martijn Wydaeghe was heard saying: “emergency fuel pump,” followed by the car firing up again and getting back underway.
But there were two further instances of the car running out of internal combustion power and stalling, with Neuville eventually turning the car on in EV-only mode for the last mile of the stage to reach the finish.
“I don’t know,” said Neuville. “I have nothing to say. I have absolutely nothing to say.”
After a brief stop just beyond the finish line of Soysambu, Neuville was able to fire up the engine and proceed towards the next stage.
In all Neuville lost 2m38.7s relative to stage winner Takamoto Katsuta, who inherits the second place he’d lost to the Belgian earlier in the day.
Adrien Fourmaux, one of the few drivers without a single puncture or technical drama to speak of thus far, moved into the final podium position. M-Sport’s team leader has a 45.6s advantage over Elfyn Evans after SS11, who is fourth.
There’s still hope for Neuville to recover; he’s only 20.2s behind Evans after SS11 despite his Soysambu drama.
There will be plenty of technical debriefing to do once Neuville eventually makes it back to service in Naivasha tonight
Neuville’s Hyundai wasn’t the only one malfunctioning on stage 11 either. Ott Tänak, down in 11th after his Friday retirement, was struggling to see as dust filled the cockpit of his car – the sliding element inside his window was opening mid-stage.
Two stages remain for the WRC crews today, where the first batch of points will be awarded, subject to drivers finishing the rally on Sunday. Kalle Rovanperä remains the rally leader with a comfortable 2m20s advantage over Katsuta.
DirtFish says
Thierry Neuville’s Saturday afternoon engine problem is a disaster for Hyundai. Nothing short.
For the previous three years, the Alzenau-based team had managed to get one car through the season’s toughest test without utilizing the superally re-entry regulation. Even that forgettable statistic could be beyond the Korean marque on this year’s Safari Rally Kenya.
Let’s rewind and look back to where this shocking run started.
Now, the world is full of ifs, buts and maybes… but if Neuville’s rear suspension had just held out for the first Sunday back in the Safari’s recent history, maybe the story would have been different. He was leading the event into the final day. Then he retired from a potential win he wanted very, very badly.
What could have been? Neuville led the Toyotas in 2021 until his rear suspension failed with four stages to go
Back then it was hard to know if this was a blip. Or was that somebody writing something on the wall? Certainly, Neuville’s team-mate Ott Tänak was worried. Emerging from Chui Lodge on the opening day, his sister i20 Coupe WRC had stalled at virtually every hairpin. The Estonian stared down the end of stage lens and asked the team: “What’s happening guys?”
A day later and at the end of a sodden Sleeping Warrior stage, there was another message for the service park after the demister failed on his side of the screen.
“The quality is amazing,” he said into camera.
Tänak made the podium. But there was nothing to smile about. The team’s third factory car was ruled out on the opening day when Dani Sordo took a wheel off in Kedong.
Against the backdrop of a 2022 one-two-three-four for rival team Toyota, Hyundai endured another disaster. Neuville parked his car against a tree in Sleeping Warrior but recovered to fifth. Tänak broke a gear lever on day one, a propshaft on day two and the power steering on day three. He didn’t finish. Oliver Solberg did finish 10th, after an event plagued by engine problems.
There might be an element of symbolism to this photo – Hyundai's hopes of Safari success have a habit of ending up looking a bit like this
And last year things got really bad… Neuville retired with suspension failure and was then excluded for a breach of recce rules. Esapekka Lappi’s car developed a voracious appetite for propshafts and Sordo placed his car fifth, five minutes off the front after a steady drive with no mechanical problems.
Again, Toyota went one-two-three-four.
Now what? Lappi’s gearbox exploded, Tänak’s suspension broke (admittedly, not his or the team’s fault) and Neuville’s crawling through Saturday afternoon and likely to need a calendar to calculate his result by the finish.
The good news for Neuville? Just Sleeping Warrior to go.
David Evans
