Elfyn Evans, Sebastien Ogier and Oliver Solberg are talking about their retirements at Safari Rally Kenya and explain what happened in Stage 13.
Toyota hold the top four positions with Oliver Solberg, Sebastien Ogier, Elfyn Evans and Takamoto Katsuta at the end of Stage 12. Ogier picked up a rear left puncture in Stage 11and lost more than two minutes there resulting in slipping behind Adrien Fourmaux on the classification. On the other hand, Evans and Solberg suffered from two punctures each in Stage 12, but they managed to retain their positions which were first and third overall respectively. However, Evans had an impact with a rock in Stage 12 resulting in damaging the rear right suspension of his Yaris. In fact, he was driving with a broken steering arm for three kilometers in Stage 13 before he decided to pull over. The bad luck hit Ogier and Solberg again as both of them retired with technical issues on the road section after Stage 13. More specifically, both cars carried an altenator issue due to the muddy conditions in Stage 13. On the other hand, Solberg's car was hit with a transmission issue as well. Toyota announced Ogier's and Solberg's retirements via a post on X. All the three Toyota drivers are set to restart tomorrow under the SuperRally regulations.
"This morning started pretty well for us and things were going fine in the second stage as well, but we unfortunately got caught out by the layout of the end, hit a rock and picked up a double puncture", Evans said.
"It looks like there was some more damage caused by the impact because in the next stage when we came to the first braking point, something gave way at the rear, and unfortunately there was no chance to continue.
"After a long run of events without retirements, it’s a huge disappointment of course, but it’s one of those things and we have to move on".
Moreover, Ogier said: "We were having an eventful morning but we managed to complete the last stage of the loop with a good time, coming back into second position. Unfortunately, it looks like some of the mud got into our alternator and although we tried everything we could on the road section, we ran out of battery before we could get back to service. This has been the most extreme Safari Rally we’ve seen in recent years: considering that our team has a reputation for having the strongest car, today has proven just how tough this year’s rally is".
Finally, Solberg stated: "The morning had started really well: we were trying to be clean but still have good speed. The feeling in the car was good and we were able to extend our lead. Unfortunately, after that muddy third stage we had an issue and had to stop on the road section. This team is known to be the strongest and most reliable and unfortunately this was just one of those days where we got an issue. It’s hard in the moment, when you’re leading the rally and the car stops on the road section trying to get back to service, but we will come back with a big push tomorrow".
Photo Credits: Toyota
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