At the end of the final day of Safari Rally, Sebastien Ogier is the winner of the seventh WRC round with Kalle Rovanpera and Elfyn Evans completing the podium positions.
Sebastien Ogier clinched his third victory of the season in Kenya and responded to Kalle Rovanpera's attack in Stage 14 as the Frenchman set the fastest time in SS15 despite the fact that he completed this stage without a tailgate after clipping a tree. In Powerstage, there was a crash on his co-driver's windscreen due to a stone and dropped 4,3 seconds there.
Kalle Rovanpera remains second overall and was the fastest driver in SS14 and SS17. In fact, he managed to decrease his gap from 16,7 to 8,6 seconds at the end of Stage 14, but Ogier bounced back and increased his lead again. In Stage 18, he suffered from a front-left puncture, but again he cut Ogier's lead to 9,2 seconds with one stage remaing for the finale. Lats but not least, it must be mentioned that he still felt a bit of understeer with his Yaris.
Elfyn Evans finished at the lowest place of the podium and had a half spin on the opening stage of Sunday meaning that his teammate Takamoto Katsuta reeled in his thid position.
Katsuta completes the 1-2-3-4 for Toyota and was not able to be at the podium again as he did the last two years. He had no hybrid power in Stage 16, but after the service he managed to take his second stage win of the week. Finally, he completed Powerstage with a water leak coming from the radiator.
Dani Sordo finished fifth overall and is the top driver for Hyundai. In Stage 16, he dropped major time as the power steering had failed on his i20N.
Ott Tanak could not improve his overall classification and is sisxth overall while he managed to be the fastest driver in Stage 16 and scored four points in Powerstage.
Pierre-Louis Loubet follows his teammate for over six minutes and completed the penultimate stage of the rally in the road mode.
Thierry Neuville gained one place since Saturday and finished eighth overall while he was the fastest driver in Powerstage and took the five bonus points from it.
Esapekka Lappi restarted today under the regulations of Rally2 after his retirement on Saturday afternoon, but he broke his third propshaft of the week in Stage 14 which means that Hyundai did not solve this problem. Moreover, EP pulled over to allow Neuville pass in Stage 15 while he mentioned at the end of SS16 that he had a front-wheel drive and the rear diff was not working. Nevertheless, his mechanics fixed his car for the final three stages of Safari Rally and his target was to take some points in Powerstage. This is why he chose not to carry a spare wheel with him after the midday service.
Watch below the stage times:
Watch below the overall classification after the end of Safari Rally of Kenya:
Photo Credits: Toyota
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