Safari Rally - 3rd Day - 1st Loop: Rovanpera remains out in front as drama hits Tanak



At the end of the morning loop of the third day, Kalle Rovanpera remains on top with Elfyn Evans and Takamoto Katsuta following him.


Kalle Rovanpera is still leading Safari Rally Kenya, but his advantage over his teammate was reduced to 19,4 seconds.


Elfyn Evans climbed into second position overall as he set the fastest time in Stage 8. However, he suffered from a puncture towards the end of Stage 10.


Takamoto Katsuta dropped to third place at the end of Stage 8 as he lost some time there due to the fact that he was confused with his pace notes. In addition to that, he dropped time in Stage 10 as he suffered from a front right puncture.


Thierry Neuville is now fourth after Tanak's retirement and set the fastest time in Stage 9 and 10. Moreover, he said at the end of Stage 8 that a tree touched the windscreen of his i20N and broke it.


Sebastien Ogier completes the top five and stayed out of trouble in this loop.


Oliver Solberg is sixth overall and dropped major time in this morning loop, but he kept his position. More specifically, he suffered from a slow puncture in Stage 8 as he hit a rock with both wheels while he received a 1min10sec time penalty for starting late in Stage 9 as he was trying to fix his i20N before the start of that stage.


Craig Breen is in seventh place overall and restarted under the regulations of Rally2 after his retirement on Friday.


Adrien Fourmaux and Sebastien Loeb restarted today under the regulations of Rally2, but the last one is outside the top ten.


Fourmaux was forced to retire again after Stage 8 with a damaged rear right suspension after having suffered from a puncture in that stage.


Ott Tanak was forced to retire in Stage 10 as something went wrong with his car. He pulled over 28.8km into the stage and after this stop he was back underway and driving very slowly. However, he stopped again as the engine of his i20N had a terrible sound, but eventually Hyundai confirmed that he is forced to retire for the rest of Saturday due to a technical issue. Finally, it must be mentioned that he was fourth until the start of Stage 10 and was chasing Katsuta for the final place of the podium.


Gus Greensmith was forced to retire at the end of Stage 9 after the accident he had in Stage 8. More specifically, he cut the inside of a right-hander and rolled his Puma in the first stage of this morning loop, but he managed to get going again. He competed in Stage 9 as well, but he retired as the windscreen was missing and there was damage to his car.


Gus Greensmith before the start of SS9


Watch below the stage times:






Watch below the overall classification after SS10:




Photo Credits: Toyota

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