World Rally Championship leader Kalle Rovanperä was fastest on a dramatic Safari Rally Kenya shakedown in which Takamoto Katsuta crashed and Esapekka Lappi suffered mechanical drama.
Hyundai driver Lappi was the first casualty on the 3.35-mile Loldia test, failing to make the end of the first pass as he brought his i20 N Rally1 to a halt with what transpired to be a broken propshaft.
Sterling work from Hyundai’s mechanics enabled Lappi’s car to be fixed, but the Finn stopped again on his second attempt at shakedown and therefore never set a competitive time.
Katsuta, who has never finished off the podium in Kenya, ran into strife on his third attempt at the shakedown stage when he rolled his Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 twice.
He managed to recover the car to remote service where the Toyota mechanics bodged some repairs, but Katsuta’s planned run with the president of Kenya, William Ruto, in the car had to be called off.
His best effort was good enough for sixth fastest, 3.6 seconds shy of his team-mate’s benchmark.
Rovanperä, who won the Safari last year, set the pace by 1.5s over M-Sport driver Ott Tänak.
“Everything seems to be as clear as it can be for a Safari Rally,” said the world champion. “So many unknowns, but so far so good.”
Tänak added: “I must say already this one feels quite shaky, and it’s actually not so bad compared to other ones!
“This rally will not be about performance, you just need to get through. It’s definitely about finishing, first.”
Sébastien Ogier was quickest of all after the first pass, but shrewdly pointed out: “It’s not only about fastest time this weekend and definitely not on shakedown! It’s about survival.”
Ogier, who won the event when it returned to the WRC after a 19-year hiatus in 2021, eventually ended up third – 2.2s shy of his team-mate Rovanperä.
Thierry Neuville was the fastest Hyundai driver in fourth, just two tenths shy of Ogier and one tenth up on the other works Toyota of Elfyn Evans.
“I’m not sure how confident anyone’s really feeling going into this rally!” Evans commented.
“Like always you try to do your best and make your best judgement because this rally is more or less all about your judgement, how much to push.”
Katsuta was 1.1s down on Evans on the timesheet but 1.4s up on Dani Sordo who missed the trip to Kenya last year but did compete in 2021.
M-Sport’s Pierre-Louis Loubet has never competed in Africa though, and he was the slowest of the factory Rally1 cars on shakedown – 3.7s down on Sordo and 8.7s off the ultimate pace.
“It looks already rough so it will be important to have a clean run and be careful with the car,” Louver said. “It’s very demanding so let’s see.”
Oliver Solberg was comfortably quickest of the WRC2 runners on his first rally in the older Škoda Fabia Rally2 evo since 2020.
Solberg’s time was some 9.5s faster than next quickest Kajetan Kajetanowicz, and also placed him ahead of Jourdan Serderidis’ Rally1 Puma.
