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Motorsport

Sport

Hyundai can't escape the Safari unscathed, triggered again by extreme conditions

Hyundai Ott Tanak Thierry Neuville Evans Toyota Josh McErlean Kalle Rovanpera Kenya Gregoire Munster Oliver Solberg

Ott Tanak is hopeful of regaining the Safari Rally lead if his car can “stay together” as extreme conditions once again proved to be Hyundai’s downfall in Africa.

The 2019 world champion won four of Friday’s opening six stages to build up a 46.1s lead over Toyota’s Elfyn Evans, but will head into Saturday 55.4s in arrears.

Tanak’s i20 N suffered a front-right driveshaft failure after winning stage seven, a feat achieved while carrying a puncture.

The mechanical issue joins a list of reliability problems Hyundai has endured since the Safari Rally rejoined the World Rally Championship calendar in 2021. The Korean marque has scored only one podium finish in the last four editions, while Toyota has dominated the African event.

Tanak was forced to nurse his car through stage nine before being able to remove the faulty driveshaft ahead of the day’s final stage, which he completed with power to only three wheels. The issue ultimately handed the rally lead to Evans.

"We realised it was a driveshaft but it was stuck there and we really struggled to remove it. We were running out of time so we had to go for it. As it is behind the engine it can very easily destroy the engine and luckily before the final stage we could remove it and drive it,” said Tanak, who dropped to third behind Evans and Kalle Rovanpera.

When asked if it was possible to recover over the remaining 11 stages, Tanak added: “We can try but it also means the car needs to stay together. Let’s see, it is rough and demanding, and it is hard for the car.”

Thierry Neuville, Martijn Wydaeghe, Hyundai World Rally Team Hyundai i20 N Rally1 (Photo by: Austral / Hyundai Motorsport)

To add to Hyundai’s woes, Thierry Neuville would have ended the day leading the rally had he avoided a multitude of time penalties. The defending world champion accrued two minutes’ worth of penalties, beginning with a one-minute penalty for being six minutes late from service. Hyundai opted to change the driveshaft and transmission as a precaution following an issue on Thursday night.

Neuville then picked up a 10-second jump-start penalty, which he felt was down to a timing glitch. A puncture followed on the next test before a cooling issue incurred a 50-second penalty for being late to stage seven.

“I don’t know what to say. It has been really challenging. It was extreme conditions in this first stage, but basically we are happy to be here,” said Neuville, who ended the day fourth, 1m31.4s from the lead.

“If you take away the penalties, plus the 20 seconds we lost yesterday, and the puncture from today we would be in the lead by nearly one minute. It is what it is.”

Toyota benefited from Hyundai’s problems as Evans headed team-mate Rovanpera by 7.7s to put the Japanese marque in the prime position for another Safari victory.

“It has been a decent day out there with no trouble for us. It has been a very tough day and we have erred on the side of caution,” said Evans.

Conditions for this year’s event have been regarded as the toughest since the event’s return, highlighted by the new 31-kilometre Camp Moran stage, that features sections of tough bedrock, followed by a sector of fesh-fesh sand.

Kalle Rovanperä, Jonne Halttunen, Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 (Photo by: Toyota Racing)

“The long stage, Thierry and Ott were really fast there, but I’m not really surprised that something happens [to them] because it is super rough, as it feels like the car is exploding any second in the stage,” said Rovanpera.

“Every year here, that [driving with a margin] is the recipe of how to do it. Every year there are some guys that are super fast, but normally they will not be the fastest at the end.”

Safari Rally takes its toll on the field

The Camp Moran stage inflicted trouble on several of the frontrunners including Hyundai’s Adrien Fourmaux, as the Frenchman opted to push on but hit a rock causing terminal damage to his front-right suspension, resulting in a second retirement from the rally following an electrical fault after Friday’s stage two.

Oliver Solberg’s rally also unravelled in the stage as the Swede surrendered sixth outright and the WRC2 lead. Poland’s Kajetan Kajetanowicz inherited the WRC2 lead, sitting eighth overall heading into Saturday.

“We were the first R5 car and unfortunately we got beached [in the fesh-fesh sand]. It is very gutting when we had such a control of the race,” said Solberg, whose Toyota GR Yaris Rally2 was eventually retrieved from the sand by a tractor.

M-Sport’s Josh McErlean and Gregoire Munster were both in the wars on the stage. The spare wheel in McErlean’s car shook itself loose, creating a hole in the rear of the car, damaging the exhaust in the process. The Irishman was forced to stop twice as a precaution in case of a possible fire, before reaching the finish having lost three minutes. McErlean was able to finish the day in seventh, with Munster 11th following a loss of power from his Puma across the afternoon.