Robert Virves started 2026 the way we had expected his 2025 to kick off: with a win and slotting himself right into WRC2 title fight conversation.
Last year did not start well for the 2022 Junior WRC champion. He got stuck in a snowbank on the penultimate stage of Rally Sweden, crashed out of Islas Canarias and then shunted again on his first points-scoring outing in Portugal.
When Virves heard that his first outing of 2026 would be on the notoriously tough Safari Rally Kenya, he felt uneasy. This, surely, was not the place to start the season off on a better footing than the previous one, given its fearsome reputation for breaking cars.
“I wasn’t too happy when we planned to come here, because I was thinking it would be better to drive this rally for experience without points if possible,” Virves told DirtFish.
He wasn’t the only Škoda driver in that boat: Andreas Mikkelsen kicked off his (for now, partial) campaign in a sister Toksport car. Their fortunes diverged immediately, with Virves on the pace as torrential rain hammered the Camp Moran test and turned the roads into a mud bath.
Virves broke free in Kenya, winning comfortably despite not winning a single stage
Meanwhile Mikkelsen’s washer bottle emptied faster than he could finish the stage, leaving him driving blind for 10 kilometers – his windscreen caked in mud that wouldn’t clean – and dropping almost two minutes.
As overall winner Takamoto Katsuta proved, this Safari was about survival above all else – and Virves was the only top Rally2 driver that didn’t run into any trouble. After taking second place from Diego Domínguez on stage six, he swiftly took the lead from Gus Greensmith, who was nursing a faulty gearbox.
“From the beginning my plan was to keep it in one piece and avoid punctures at any cost,” said Virves. “So [the rally] was quite well done, I would say.
“We had quite proper push in some sections. When there was a bigger risk to break the car or have punctures I was driving too slow sometimes, but in the end, I was thinking about the final result, not stage wins this time.”
Virves shares the championship lead with Léo Rossel and Roope Korhonen
Mikkelsen went on to win eight stages; Virves didn’t top the times once. It didn’t matter. Virves, with 25 points on the board, now sits atop the WRC2 standings alongside Monte Carlo winner Léo Rossel and Sweden victor Roope Korhonen.
After the misfiring start to his previous campaign, starting 2026 with a win on his first trip to Kenya has instilled him with confidence for the season ahead.
“Yeah, of course,” said Virves. “Especially to win a new rally when I come here for the first time, compared to the others; it is a good feeling, I have to say.”
