71. Safari Rally Kenya 2023
21. 6. – 25. 6. 2023, Naivasha • WRC Safari Rally Kenya • gravel 355.92 km • total distance including road sections - 1191.06 km • Other years
Info
SS19
Leaking intercooler on the end of stage
"You always want to fight for the win but we did our best starting first car on the road, so regarding that I think it's not fully bad. Good points for the season anyway."
"We're here, we've taken some points but I would have liked to be better."
"It's okay, we finished and first of all I want to say thanks to the team. They fixed the car every single time and they did a great job."
"We are here but we didn't have the speed that we wanted."
"So far it has been a bit tricky this year. We need to find a bit of speed for the next rally."
"We were struggling a lot on this rally but we are at the end with the experience. Thanks to the team, we keep on pushing."
"It's a fabulous rally but again another really bad weekend for us."
"I really tried to give it everything I could. It wasn't easy when you don't do the first pass of a stage at a fast speed but it was a good run through."
"It's an amazing feeling. It was so nice to be here again - it seemed to be easy but it wasn't. Thank you to my team and Maciej, I think we did quite a good job."
"It's a shame we had a technical problem yesterday and are running in super rally. It was an amazing experience and it's a shame that it's over already."
"It's been a while since I got in an R5 car, 21 rallies ticked!"
"It took too long, but this year we made everything to finish! It was important for us to do this because me and my co-driver are lifelong friends and our dream was to finish this rally together."
"It's amazing for us and thanks to my co-driver Timo and the team, it worked perfect. For us it's a big moment to win the Masters Cup and we are really happy."
SS18
"I didn't know we have a puncture... It was a proper Safari in there, really deep ruts. I just tried to go through."
"We need to try for sure, let's see. Myself, I am struggling quite a bit - probably getting a bit old!"
"For sure, we want to fight in the Power Stage but I don't know if we have any chance. It will be difficult but we will try to do our best to bring the car home with no problems."
"Everything's fine, just hot."
"It should be possible, but the thing is that it's not so simple to go really fast when you are doing the stage for the first time fast. Let's see if the car can take it when I push full throttle."
"We had an alarm in the stage so I had to finish the stage in road mode."
"This one was horrible. It is so rutted and in some places it felt like we had no suspension in there."
SS16
"It was just one corner where I got caught out a bit in the ruts. I am not feeling good in the car, I am fighting way too much all the time. Especially here it doesn't work out, I am oversteering way too much."
"All okay, just no hybrid."
"I'm not really committed in the fast places, but okay, we got through okay."
"It's the brake cooling duct, it's been like that since the beginning."
"I am not so sure about Power Stage points, but let's see. It's tough, that's for sure, but we will try to come through."
"Without the wing it wasn't easy at high speed.
Hybrid issue
Powersteering issue
"We just took it easy and did a good recce for the powerstage."
"I'm not sure what the problem is at the moment but it's only front-wheel drive. Maybe it's something with the propshaft, it might be twisted, but the rear diff isn't working at all.""
SS15
Pulled over to allow Neuville past.
"I just clipped a little bit a tree and I am very surprised to be honest."
SS14
"It's very tricky, even I was quite careful. There is a lot of rocks everywhere. I was careful but it still felt on the limit, I don't know why. So tricky."
"I don't think the others are really trying much. Let's see."
"Lappi's propshaft is broken already?! I took it very slowly... We can't catch P8 so I just drove through. This is the roughest stage of the rally so we had to be careful in there."
"We just took it easy, it's already really destroyed. We had some issue and it was very hard, so I was careful with the car."
"It's quite a tricky one, it's really painful. A proper headache after this one, yeah."
Broken propshaft, second time
"There are huge rocks everywhere on the road and I had to nearly stop because there was a massiver rock in the line."
"We got caught in a dried rut and it completely spun us out of the blue."
"A lot of rocks and you need to just pass through the stage."
"The propshaft is broken already so I don't really know if there is any sense. It happened three kilometres before the finish..."
SS13
Second retirement
"Super slippy in there and of course when you start coming to the rainy parts it's patchy with the grip. You can only have a few moments before it's time to calm it down and bring it through."
"I cannot say that I have so much luck with these tyres but that's the way it is."
"Even on the straights, second gear was quite high-speed. We are here in one piece and that was the only goal for today."
"Too many moments! Even with no rain I spun and had to reverse."
"Really difficult conditions, it's like ice - amazing. This is another level."
"It's worse than a slick one ice!"
Spin
Off road moment in last corner
Spin
Off road moment in last corner
"I went slowly but even then I did a spin on the last corner!"
"A hell of a stage - if you are not in the car you cannot describe the conditions."
SS12
Second retirement
Mechanical
"Definitely now since EP also dropped from the battle I don't want to take crazy risks anymore and catching Seb purely by driving would be pretty much impossible anyways."
"I just try to do my job and not do any mistakes. Hopefully we stay out of trouble up until the end of the day now."
"I don't know if it was a push but there was not hole left that I didn't go through! It was a bit shaky and I had to push back my helmet a few times, but it was fun."
Puncture
"It looks like Taka is doing a better job at the moment.
"The only thing we can do is try to stay here at the end and make some points."
"One rear damper has leaked the oil out so we are just trying to get it through now."
"For sure it's important to finish but I am just trying to enjoy."
SS11
"Okay, it looks like a big fight. Let's see. It's Safari at the end of the day."
"There is a lot of branches in there and this one got stuck in there, no big drama."
"This one was okay. Quite rough in some places but I prefer that to the morning with the wet."
"Okay, I didn't investigate too much on the stage but it looks like another tyre off somewhere. Quite a struggle."
"The conditions have changed a lot. For sure it's better but with the car in general there's no real change. We can feel that we are missing traction in the bumpy sections. It's quite hard and we are getting kicked around quite a lot."
"After the splash, no engine anymore. We stalled and then we got stuck but the engine has an issue."
"I am driving my own pace with quite a level speed in my opinion."
"We have two rough stages to go so I don't need to be excited too much, just calm down and do my job."
"I didn't take many risks but I enjoyed the drive at least."
Stopped, propshaft
Engine issue after watersplash
Changed a tyre
SS10
"I don't think we were having a particularly good stage before that either..."
"Some sections were very slippy and I was very cautious to be honest. On the last section with the stones it's so easy to damage anything anywhere"
changed a tyre
"I think we could push a bit more but for sure Seb is pushing a lot for this win."
Puncture
"It was really slippery in some places with a lot of muddy places. In the really fast corners the car was completely sideways with no control, but this I enjoyed a bit. The last part was really rough but it's okay."
"I have never experienced anything like this before. When you see the puddles and mud, you brake like absolutely everything and then you see if you survive."
"Sometimes you are not in control, the car was just going everywhere because of the mud and the water."
Slow puncture on rear-left
Off road
"It was so muddy that I ran out of washer fluid so I had no visibility for the last 20 km."
"On a junction, I go straight."
"It's not Sleeping Warrior, it's Sleeping Hell! Some parts are extremely slippery and we hit a tree."
"I was enjoying, but I have no pressure and I don't need to push."
Off road
Spin
SS9
Second retirement
"I need to take it easy a bit, but everything is fine. The next one if going to be very difficult and challenging."
"It's a bloody long way to go still! Every stage is very tricky, anything can happen in every stage."
"We have to keep doing what we came here to do but obviously there is no magic solution to bring that time back all in one stage."
"All OK in this one, tried be careful..a very long one to go after this."
"I would say it was fun, I enjoyed this one. On the first one the conditions were so bad for us. We lost 3sec per km. We can just try to catch some points from the rally."
"This one was top, I enjoyed it very much."
"Quite rough in some places and I made one mistake as well."
"When you have a puncture [yesterday] you should change it. Obviously a very stupid mistake."
"I think we had a slow puncture front right because we had an impact."
"I tried but at the same time I try to not take a big risk."
"I am struggling to see the road."
"It is really difficult to read the road."
"It's a challenge today - Safari challenge!"
SS8
"I was very slow and tried to lift the front..I don't know."
"All Ok, no drama, bit tricky in the first 2km with puddles and mud so quite a few surprises. On the fast section over there, I was too slow."
"This one is an early wake up. Very slippery at the bottom, then some bumps...we took it a little bit carefully."
"For sure some moments, some muddy places, you don't see them coming. It is just an adventure, it is a proper zoo!"
"The beginning was very slippery, especially the first corners at the beginning, then really bumpy. The car is not working well in these places..."
"I don't know if it is the car or the road, but something is wrong. It is very hard to see the road, I struggled alot."
"Proper Safari conditions on the first stage this morning - mud, dust, watersplashes, puddles and more! Good run though, winning the stage by more than a minute."
"You can always go quicker in this rally, it just depends how much you want to push on the rough places. I would say quite good stage. I lost some time on some easy places where I tried to smooth, but it didn't work."
"We stalled the engine at the start."
Puncture
Stopped after watersplash
"I was not seeing the road so it was very strange, very difficult."
"I don't know if it is the car or the road, but something is wrong. It is very hard to see the road, I struggled a lot."
SS7
"I think it was more of a bush than a tree, which we can probably be happy about! I got crossed up in these tricky ruts and didn't manage to catch it in time."
Stopped
"The puncture was maybe in the last 10km."
Stopped, suspension
"We took a hairpin and we had all the dust in front of us. We were stopped for 10sec to clarify all the dust."
Changed a tyre
Puncture
"I was a bit careful but I think you should be in these conditions."
"Except for the hybrid issue this morning we had a perfect day, so we can be happy."
"I don't feel really comfortable to go any faster."
"A lot of surprises, and it's a high-speed stage so not easy."
SS6
"We are just focusing on our driving and luckily we have no water splashes today! There's a long way to go."
"It's quite demanding, I would say. I tried to be careful because we had a puncture in the previous one and it's very hard on the car, you need to be careful."
"I think I improved quite well, it's about one second per kilometre so I am very happy."
"It was okay. All good. It's a different kind of challenge but I like it."
"It's a really nice stage, really nice to drive."
"I tried to drive very clean and now I can say it was the right choice."
"I'm just trying to keep it clean and tidy but it's still difficult to know the right balance to push."
"It's a bit hard for the suspension, but still quite smooth anyway."
"Quite a different style of stage, so for sure the understeer was not so big.!
Suspension
SS5
"Under braking, in the middle there was a big step and we broke the wheel there."
"I think the grip is better but it's loose in some parts. More or less, it's not so bad."
"My strategy is a bit different. I tried to drive more clean and gain the performance from the tyres. It's only in the last one that the risk is very high."
"It was good. Much more slippery than before because it's getting dry. In the first corner we went wide, but anyway, I am quite happy."
"It more slippy than in the morning which I was not expecting. In some corners at the beginning you have good grip then it becomes really bad."
Hit a zebra
Changed a tyre
"We managed to improve the suspension a bit."
"I think we are even slower than this morning, but generally the feeling was good."
"I think we made a small mistake on the set-up because we expected to have more grip in the afternoon."
SS4
Puncture
"I'm not happy, I had big damage at the front and had to repair before the stage. But i'm here."
"I tried to do my best with no mistakes, a lot of ruts. In the fast places the car moves quite a lot, many stones in the sides of the road. Not easy, nice stage but difficiult to feel the speed."
"I don't know. Suddenly it went empty and that's it, like 13km before the finish."
Rear-right puncture
"I had no hybrid all stage so it didn't help."
"A bit of bad dust at the end there, but that wasn't the timeloss. Had to avoid big stones being pulled out, felt so soft at places. I wasn't taking enough risks."
"It just came off the rim quite early in the ruts. Simple. We had some engine troubles and we didn't get power any more."
"(Time loss) It's a lot."
"It was a proper cleaning morning, but we did a good job, no mistakes. I could be quite happy."
Broken steering arm after the last stage
Puncture, changing tyre
SS3
"This stage was much better and I enjoyed. We don't have the hybrid anymore, so we need to sort this issue."
"Nothing big, just setting issue. I was a bit cautious in some places, very high speed."
"Step by step I need to get back the feeling, the car is working good. This rally is not flat out everywhere."
"I was driving a bit too careful in some places, the pacenotes were nice but I changed some corners with videos. I'm sad because I was enjoying the stage."
"Okay. For sure over here it's clear, it's more Finland style with the cuts. In the last stage I didn't take cuts others did because of the penalty last year. Next stages are not so simple."
"I think in this one there was some cleaning, but already last year Kalle did a good job there first on the road, good time from me. These stages were not the roughest, hardest part of the loop coming now."
"It was a clean run through the stage. Should have been quicker compared to Kalle. A clean and tidy run."
"It's the same as previous rally, at speed I struggle a lot. Trying to get it through."
"It's a totally different stage profile, faster and wider. There is more cleaning on this one, but it's so fast it doesn't matter."
Front-right puncture
SS2
"At the beginning of the rally, my mum was calling to me. She said: 'Let Solberg go,' and I did it!"
"I tried to push a bit. I thought I had a front-left puncture but I didn't."
"I don't know if it's cleaning or not but I was quite careful. We will see - step by step moving forward and we will see how it's going."
"We had no engine power..."
"Of course, we like the difficulty here - we like the challenge! We lost a little bit of the brakes in the downhill, but the rest was not so bad. Let's see."
"We have no power."
"I was pushing at the start, but this is my first time here in a Rally2 car so quickly realised I had to take it calmer than in a WRC car, good stage though!"
"We saw some zebras in the middle of the stage and we were stuck behind them."
"We stayed on the road the whole time, so this is a good start! I didn't use all the open space where I saw some lines and I used the wrong side of the trees sometimes."
"It's very shaky in there and we got kicked off the line and we had a big bee in the car!
"We had a group of zebras so we had to stop for them a few times."
"It's not so rough in terms of loose stones but there's a lot of bad bumps. It's tricky to judge the pace."
"I tried to have a decent speed but nothing crazy because there's a long weekend ahead."
"This one downhill section which is really narrow with lots of loose stuff was tricky and I'm sure it will clean. I was even struggling to make the hairpins there, but otherwise safe and clean run through!"
SS1
Off road
"It's a tough event. Nobody knows what is going to happen. It will be a big surprise. There is going to be ups and downs for all of us during the weekend but hopefully more ups than downs."
"It's gonna be a new challenge this year. Different from last year. Definitely more rough. Let's try to do the same as last year. We just need to be steady and keep a good pace. At least the start was better."
"Safari Rally Kenya is a demanding one. Let's see after Saturday. I would say this day will tell us a lot."
"Similar stages to the previous two years, but different conditions. A bit more rough from what we have some seen in recce. I need some Kenyan gods this weekend to help me. Luck will be needed!"
"Thanks to the team - they fixed the car perfectly and I had a very good feeling. This stage is one that you can really enjoy and it was very slippy. I will try to enjoy tomorrow."
"I think it will be a lot different. It's great to start here with all the fans and the people. The car looks like a proper Safari car but it's going to be a tough, long week."
"It will be a big, big challenge. Hopefully we can do a good rally and nothing breaks with the car and the same with us."
"We are really looking forward to it. This one is all about the show and having fun, but there was more grip than I expected."
"We are really looking forward to it. So far, not the best start, but it's alright. It's early days yet."
"I think this year is going to be tougher than last year so we are just going to try and keep it steady, and try to finish this time."
"It's been a long road getting here. I've just switched over to rally mode, and this is a lot easier!"
Spin