France's Sebastien Ogier racked up his second career Kenya's WRC Safari Rally on Sunday at Hell’s Gate, but not without drama.
The eight-time champion defied team-mate Kalle Rovanperä’s charge to head home Toyota Gazoo Racing’s third 1-2-3-4 Safari Rally finish to follow similar podium sweeps from 1993, 2022 and 2023.
Ogier returned from the closing Wolf Power Stage with a cracked windscreen and savored all the dramas and gremlins that incidentally earned him the coveted Safari trophy.
The Frenchman, fighting hard to recover time lost to Rovanperä in the rocky opener, clipped a tree and ripped off his car’s entire rear tailgate. Amazingly winning the stage and making all the time back, he then patched the gap using a bin liner to keep dust at bay in Hell’s Gate 1.
Ogier, one of the hardest hit, saw his lead whittled down to just 9.2sec before the Wolf Power Stage finale, where the eight-time world champion's run was again without incident, arriving at the flying finish with a cracked windscreen.
Now racing part-time, he eclipsed championship leader Rovanpera of Finland by 6.7 seconds with Welshman Elfyn Evans a distant third and Japan's Takamoto Katsuta fourth.
Rovanpera-who won the 2022 Safari- extended his championship lead over Hyundai's Thierry Neuville to 37 points, with the Belgian finishing eighth but bagging some maximum (five) bonus points with the fastest time in the final Power Stage.
2023 WRC Safari Rally Kenya Overall Standings
1 (#17) Sébastien Ogier - Landais V. (Toyota GR Yaris Rally1) 3:30:42.5
2(#69) Kalle Rovanperä - Halttunen J. (Toyota GR Yaris Rally1) 3:30:49.2/+6.7
3 (#33) Evans Elfyn - Martin Scott (Toyota GR Yaris Rally1) 3:33:41.0/+2:58.5
4 (#18) Takamoto Katsuta - Aaron Johnston (Toyota GR Yaris Rally1) 3:34:06.3/+3:23.8
5.(#6) Sordo Dani - Carrera Cándido (Hyundai i20 N Rally1) 3:35:47.9/+5:05.4
6 (#8) Tänak Ott - Järveoja Martin (Ford Puma Rally1) 3:39:56.9/+9:14.4
7 (#7) Pierre-Louis Loubet - Gilsoul N. (Ford Puma Rally1) 3:46:58.2/+16:15.7
8 (#11) Thierry Neuville - Wydaeghe M. (Hyundai i20 N Rally1) 3:55:29.5/+24:47.0
9 (#21) Kajetanowicz K. - Szczepaniak (M.Škoda Fabia Rally2 evo ) 3:57:15.9/+26:33.4
10 (#20) Oliver Solberg - Edmondson E. (Škoda Fabia Rally2 evo) 3:57:46.5/+27:04.0
11 (#23) Martin Prokop - Jůrka Zdeněk (Ford Fiesta Rally2) 4:08:43.6/+38:01.1
12 (#26) Carl Tundo - Jessop Tim (Škoda Fabia R5) 4:11:38.6/+40:56.1
13 (#4) Lappi Esapekka - Ferm Janne (Hyundai i20 N Rally1) 4:12:57.4/+42:14.9
14 (#24) Kremer Armin - Gottschalk Timo (Škoda Fabia Rally2 evo) 4:14:40.8/+43:58.3
17 (#32) Samman Singh Vohra - Alfir Khan (Škoda Fabia Rally2 evo) 5:23:48.3/+1:53:05.8
19 (#30) Aakif Virani - Azhar Bhatti (Škoda Fabia R5) 5:43:12.5/+2:12:30.0
20 (#37) McRae Kimathi - Mwangi Kioni (Ford Fiesta Rally3) 5:43:54.7/+2:13:12.2
21 (#44) Nikhil Sachania - Deep Patel (Mitsubishi Lancer Evo X) 5:52:33.1/+2:21:50.6
22 (#45) Minesh Rathod - Mactavish Jamie (Mitsubishi Lancer Evo X ) 6:00:31.5/+2:29:49.0
