– In Kenya, official driving operations for the Safari Rally, the third round of the 2026 World Rally Championship (WRC) season, opened on Thursday. Two special stages (SS) were on the program for the first of the four days, with SS1 at 24,3 kilometers being one of the longest stages of the entire rally. To make matters worse, this stage was marked by rainfall.
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The fastest time on SS1 in the tricky conditions went to Toyota driver Oliver Solberg, who had triumphed at the season opener in Monte Carlo. At the start of the “Safari”, Solberg was lucky enough to escape the heaviest rainfall.
Over the 24,3 kilometers, Solberg was a full 30 seconds faster than his teammate, WRC championship leader Elfyn Evans, who had won in Sweden. At the finish of the stage, however, Solberg also spoke of “crazy difficult” conditions.
On SS2, a significantly shorter stage at just 8,9 kilometers, it was dry. The fastest time went to another Toyota driver, namely Sebastien Ogier.
Ogier was 4,2 seconds faster than Solberg, who was also outperformed by two other Toyota drivers: Takamoto Katsuta and also Sami Pajari in the WRC2 car. However, Solberg was again faster than Evans on SS2. In this case, the time difference between the two previous season winners was 3,3 seconds.
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This means that Oliver Solberg leads after the first day in Kenya with a 33,3-second advantage over Elfyn Evans. Third is Sebastien Ogier, already more than one minute behind, followed by Takamoto Katsuta and Sami Pajari. This in turn means nothing other than that Toyota claims the entire top 5 in the Safari Rally standings after Thursday.
As the spearhead for Hyundai, Thierry Neuville currently ranks in sixth place, followed directly by the best-placed driver from M-Sport Ford, namely Jon Armstrong. In the Hyundai camp, all three factory drivers – Thierry Neuville, Adrien Fourmaux, Esapekka Lappi – struggled with the threat of engine overheating in their i20 N on SS2.
Eight special stages are on the program for the Safari Rally on Friday. Until the finish on Sunday, the third round of the season comprises a total of 20 SS, with the Power Stage forming the conclusion as usual.
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