The attendance list for the most difficult test of the hybrid era in the FIA World Rally is valuable. The Safari Rally Kenya (23-26 June).
Championship leader Kalle Rovanperä is the lead line-up for the sixth round of the season on the GR Yaris at Toyota Gazoo Racing. The young Finn will have as team partners the French 8-time world champion, Sébastien Ogier, who replaces Esapekka Lappi to defend his crown in Safari, and the Welshman Elfyn Evans.
Takamoto Katsuta crews a fourth GR Yaris for the Japanese manufacturer's second team.
M-Sport Ford presents an impressive 5-car armada. The returning legend with 9 world titles, Frenchman Sébastien Loeb, is joined by Irishman Craig Breen, who finished second in Sardinia, British Gus Greensmith and another Frenchman, Adrien Fourmaux. The Ford Puma Rally1 with hybrid engine, will be the model to beat the competition, in the team led by Malcolm Wilson, which registers another unit for the Greek driver Jourdan Serderidis.
Officially, 12 Rally1 cars from the main teams are registered, as well as 10 cars in the main support category WRC2. Also good representation among the competitors to the WRC3, with five Rally3 specification cars in the spotlight.
Belgian Thierry Neuville and fellow Estonian Rally Italia Sardegna winner Ott Tänak represent Hyundai Motorsport in the i20 N, with Norwegian youngster Oliver Solberg replacing Spaniard Dani Sordo in the sixth stage of the 2022 WRC season.
Polish driver Kajetan Kajetanowicz leads the WRC2 competitors in a Škoda Fabia Rally2 Evo. Czech Martin Prokop will ride a Ford Fiesta Rally2 and North American Sean Johnston will compete in a Citroën C3 Rally.
In WRC3, FIA Junior WRC driver Mcrae Kimathi is one of several local drivers entered, with Paraguayan Diego Dominguez, category leader at Rally Italia Sardegna, also traveling to Africa.
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