Kalle Rovanperä boosted his FIA World Rally Championship title hopes with a dominant victory at Safari Rally Kenya on Sunday afternoon.
The 21-year-old from Finland put in an irresistible performance to claim the fourth victory of the season in a dream week for the Toyota Gazoo Racing team, which secured the top four for the first time in 29 years.
Rovanperä never expected to win this rally. He arrived in Kenya with a comfortable points lead and played down his hopes of glory, starting with the mindset that any point earned on the toughest round of the championship would be a bonus.
But the 'bring home any point' mentality with which he performed was immediately thrown out the window on friday afternoon when the "young prodigy" won first place to GR teammate Yaris, who is nothing more than the reigning world champion, with 8 drivers' championships in his history, frenchman Sébastien Ogier, who suffered a puncture and stopped to change a wheel in the last special of the day.
Despite everything, a somewhat uncomfortable situation for young Rovanperä, compared to the champion teammate. It was soon overtaken on saturday morning, when it reinforced its leading position and thrived in the wet conditions of the tracks, in a period of the race when the rains made many of the hopes of its rivals collapse.
The sizable margin of 40.3 seconds he took into sunday's final was extended by adding again two fastest times in the specials, for the youngster to finish the tough four-day journey 52.8 seconds ahead of Elfyn Evans in the lead. the Yaris quartet.
He now leads the championship by 65 points with seven stages still to be completed on the 2022 WRC calendar, while Toyota extended the lead by 62 points among the constructors.
"It's great," said Rovanperä. "I have to say this was the hardest rally I've ever done and, to be honest, we just have to thank the team."
"Having four cars like this without any problems means it's clearly the strongest and fastest car. The team did a fantastic job."
Welshman Evans struggled with his troubled result from the last round in Sardinia by performing uninhibited. A puncture on the SS10 was a minor scare, as the non-functional windshield wipers also led to some awkward moments during saturday's mud bath.
He finished 49.9 seconds ahead of Takamoto Katsuta, who sealed back-to-back podiums at Safari after finishing second last year. The japanese rider kept an eye on the mirrors with Ogier behind and finished 27.6 seconds ahead of the eight-time world champion.
Ogier - last year's Safari winner - had mixed emotions towards the end of the rally. To friday's tire problem that took him out of contention, he added to the time lost on saturday, when the Yaris's engine ingested some of the famous african fish sand.
The long-awaited battle with compatriot Sébastien Loeb never materialized either, as the nine-time world champion retired on friday the M-Sport Ford Puma with engine problems.
However, Ogier was pleased to take home more solid points for Toyota during his half-time-only season. The last time the team held all four top positions, interestingly, was in Kenya in 1993.
Hyundai Motorsport's Thierry Neuville of belgium was more than 10 minutes behind in fifth place overall, despite being given a 10-minute penalty when he crashed into a tree and failed to finish saturday's Sleeping Warrior final.
It was a weekend to forget for the korean manufacturer, as the i20 N left estonian Ott Tänak on saturday's penultimate stage and retired for the second time due to a power steering failure on sunday. Still, they left Kenya in second and third in the championship, with Neuville scoring five bonus points with his victory at the Wolf Power Stage.
Irishman Craig Breen restarted after "going to the shower early" on friday and ended up leading M-Sport Ford in sixth overall, despite suspension issues that affected his Puma Rally1. The british team also faced a difficult journey with fellow countryman Gus Greensmith out of action during SS8 and frenchman Adrien Fourmaux succumbing to suspension problems that affected his car shortly afterwards.
Breen gained a foothold when Oliver Solberg stopped in the middle of the road with the air filter of his i20 N filled with dust, causing the cancellation of sunday's opening special. The young swede ended up riding again, but was plagued by a mechanical problem on the last stages and dropped to 10th.
Greek rider Jourdan Serderidis with a private Puma Rally1 sailed smoothly through Safari Rally Kenya to finish seventh overall, followed by Loeb and polish Kajetanowicz, who secured an emphatic victory in WRC2.
The WRC returns to Europe for the Estonian Rally (14-17 July) at the start of the second half of the season.
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