WRC Safari Rally Kenya: Solberg and Ogier stop,…

Toyota’s Takamoto Katsuta has moved into the Safari Rally Kenya lead after Oliver Solberg and Sebastien Ogier were forced to stop on the road section coming back to service.

Solberg had navigated through a tricky morning loop of stages with a 42.6s lead over Ogier, but the Toyota team-mates both ground to a halt on their way back to the midday service. Both drivers suffered broken alternators likely inflicted by the roughness of the stages.

It proved to be a difficult morning for Toyota as Elfyn Evans was forced to retire from a WRC round for the first time since Greece 2024, with a damaged right-rear suspension.

As a result, Katsuta who ended the loop sitting in third, 1m33.6s behind Solberg, has now vaulted into a 1m07.5s lead over Hyundai’s Thierry Neuville. Katsuta is now in a prime position to claim his maiden WRC win.

Hyundai’s Adrien Fourmaux has moved to third, 0.7s behind Neuville, with team-mate Esapekka Lappi in fourth.

“The last stage was quite muddy and rough, and the mud went into the engine side and broke the alternators for both of them [Solberg and Ogier],” said Toyota deputy team principal Juha Kankkunen.

Oliver Solberg, Elliott Edmondson, Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 (Photo by: Toyota Racing)

"Oliver has also a little bit of a transmission problem as well, and Elfyn, we know what happened to him already so it hasn’t been the best morning. Taka is still leading but in that case we are ok but that is Safari. That can happen.

"I mean, I have been in Kenya so many times that it doesn’t surprise me when something like that happens. The conditions have been really tough and, let’s say, the cars should be built for that. But in those muddy conditions it can go everywhere.

"Water is not that bad, but the stiff mud sticks everywhere and that can cause problems. It went into the alternator and broke the pulley, let’s say, and things all get stuck.”

Ogier attempted to fix his problem and eventually returned to the service park having been towed by a local for some of the journey.

“I think it is the most extreme rally we have done in Kenya in recent years,” said Ogier.

“We mentioned the whole week that Saturday would be the big day and it would be a big test for the cars and it has proven it so far. Our team has the reputation to have the strongest car but surprisingly today the three leading cars [all Toyotas] have retired.

“Of course the whole car is incredibly dirty and it looks like some mud has been coming in. I have been told that one of our cars also had the issue and actually managed to fix it by putting clean water on it again and it started running again. We did that too but unfortunately it didn’t solve our issue. I did everything I could do but it wasn’t enough.”

Solberg admitted the retirement "hurts" having tried to drive carefully and stay out of trouble.

"We were on our way back to service with some technical problems, and then there was a traffic stop and the car stopped," said Solberg. "Of course when you try to have such a clean and smart rally it hurts when you are in the lead and able to control things and potentially have a fantastic result. But that’s life.

"I mean it has been a fantastic start with the team. Four rallies and just a bit of bad luck now. But we know the speed is there and the feeling is there, so we just have to keep going."

Crews will tackle a repeat of the stages this afternoon to complete Saturday’s leg.