Hyundai World Rally Team has named three drivers for this month’s WRC Safari Rally in Nairobi and Naivasha.
The team will be led by 2019 World Rally Champion and Estonian superstar Ott Tanak alongside championship leader Thierry Neuville and Finn Esapekka Lappi.
Hyundai Motorsport World Rally Team heads into this month’s Safari hoping for a trouble-free run; having had to contend with playing second fiddle to Totoya Gazoo Racing in the African fixture since its return to the WRC in 2021.
Tanak, who placed fifth on the 2023 log, will be looking to close the gap and top of the series.
The Estonian hopes to make amends on the iconic Kenyan fixture in which he finished sixth in an M-Sport Ford Puma Rally1 before returning to Hyundai this season.
Tanak will be hoping for a big return in his i20 N Rally1 which went awry when he slipped into a ditch early in Rallye Monte-Carlo.
The first morning’s competition in Round Two in Sweden went the same way, when Tänak hit a snowbank and damaged the radiator, and was forced out for the rest of Friday in Umea. The 2019 world champion ended the event 41st.
Tänak told www.wrc.com: “From my side, definitely too many mistakes to start the season but we know we can be a lot better. We’re looking forward to having a clean rally in Kenya. The mistake in Sweden was frustrating and afterwards even more so. We felt better in the car on Friday when the roads were a bit more slippery, but when the grip improved we just weren’t comfortable.”
After scoring a distant podium in the 2021 Safari Rally Kenya, Tänak and co-driver Martin Järveoja have struggled to make an impression on the Naivasha-based rally.
Tanak’s championship-leading team-mate and title rival Neuville returns to Kenya where he has had to contend with playing second fiddle to his Toyota race adversaries.
In 2021, Neuville retired from the lead of Safari with the damage to his rear-right damper too great to repair. Neuville finished fifth in the 2022 Safari navigated by Martijn Wydaeghe.
In 2023, Neuville was disqualified from Safari after stewards found the Belgian to have conducted illegal recce activities during the rally.
He was penalised for instances where an unauthorised person was seen, after reconnaissance, to be driving on routes that would be used as special stages throughout the rally.
The person was on private property without authorisation and was stopped by officials in two locations on two different days.
The evidence presented to the stewards indicated links of this person to Neuville. Safari Rally 2024 returns to its traditional Easter holiday weekend having been scheduled for March 28-31, 2024.
It is a departure from the last three editions which have all been staged in June and will offer a sterner test to the drivers as it coincides with the rainy season.
