– The battle for victory at the Safari Rally Kenya, the third round of the 2026 World Rally Championship (WRC), remains completely open after a dramatic Friday. Toyota driver Oliver Solberg was only just able to defend his lead and, after an eventful day, is now only one second ahead of his Toyota teammate Sebastien Ogier.
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The winner of the season opener in Monte Carlo had started the day with a comfortable lead of 33,3 seconds over Elfyn Evans (Toyota). Ogier was more than a minute behind at that point. However, the relentless tracks of Kenya ensured that Solberg’s cushion almost completely melted away.
The turning point in the duel for the lead was initiated by the eighth special stage. During the second pass of the stony “Geothermal,” Solberg suffered a puncture on the rear right. The Toyota driver had to slow down and lost 32,6 seconds in the process. As a result, his lead over Ogier shrank to a single second.
The Frenchman had previously fought his way back with an impressive recovery. He made up for the time loss he had suffered on Thursday due to a heavy rain shower. Although the reigning world champion also suffered a puncture in the sixth stage, it cost him less time than feared.
After setting the fastest time in the seventh stage, Ogier moved past Evans into second place. Following Solberg’s mishap, he temporarily reduced the gap to 0,7 seconds. Solberg, who had deliberately chosen a cautious strategy to protect the car, countered in the final stage of the day and took another 0,3 seconds off Ogier. (to the results)
“With Seb, we’re basically starting from scratch again,” Solberg explained in the evening. Asked about the duel with Ogier, he added: “I’ve fought against him before and this year I’m leading 1:0, so let’s see. He had an incredible day, really very impressive. I tried to act cleverly and do my own thing. Apparently, we were too cautious and had bad luck with the puncture. Tomorrow we attack again.”
Tactical considerations for Ogier and Evans
Despite the narrow gap, Ogier was satisfied and sees himself in a good position for Saturday, which is considered the toughest day of the rally. “It was a good day. It’s actually better not to be in the lead tonight because we know it usually rains on Saturday afternoons and the cars further back often suffer the most. Tomorrow is an important day and it will be a massive challenge to get through it,” said Ogier.
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Evans finished the day in third place, 20,5 seconds behind. His biggest problem was a bent wheel. “I think it was important to get through without any major incidents. Tomorrow, all hell will surely break loose on the stages and with the weather. We’re in a decent position, but there’s still a long way to go. Going by past years, anything can happen tomorrow,” said the Welshman.
Strong performance by Pajari and giraffe stop for Lappi
Probably the most impressive performance of the day was shown by Sami Pajari (Toyota). The Finn secured four stage wins and climbed to fourth place overall. He also benefited from the misfortune of his teammate Takamoto Katsuta, who suffered two front punctures in the seventh stage. Since Katsuta needed both spare wheels, he had to drastically reduce his pace and fell back to seventh place.
Between Pajari and Katsuta, Hyundai drivers Thierry Neuville and Adrien Fourmaux lined up. Neuville struggled with a damaged radiator, which he had to repair makeshift after a stone strike. Nevertheless, he saved a lead of 1,2 seconds over his teammate Fourmaux to the finish.
Esapekka Lappi gave an unusual reason for a loss of time. The Finn in the third Hyundai not only lost time due to a problem with the differential but also had to give priority to a family of giraffes in the ninth stage.
“There was a family of giraffes on the road and a calf was the last member of the group. I had to downshift into first gear and followed them for 200 to 300 meters. I lost about 15 to 20 seconds in the process. I didn’t want to risk anything because of the animals,” Lappi reported.
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It was a dark day for the M-Sport Ford team. Josh McErlean had to end the rally prematurely due to gearbox damage. His teammate Jon Armstrong lost a lot of time due to repairs on the track and eventually limped his Ford Puma to the finish with only two-wheel drive.
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