At the end of Friday afternoon, Oliver Solberg keeps the lead of Safari Rally Kenya with Sebastien Ogier and Elfyn Evans following him.
Oliver Solberg still tops the overall classification despite his rear right puncture in Stage 8, but his lead has been decreased to one second at the end of Stage 10.
Sebastien Ogier moved ahead of the third Elfyn Evans at the end of Stage 7 for nine tenths of a second and was the fastest driver in SS7 and SS9. He tried to steal Solberg's lead in Stage 10 as their gap was 0,3 seconds at the end of Stage 9.
Elfyn Evans is in third position overall since Stage 7, but he is 20,5 seconds behind the leader Solberg.
Sami Pajari keeps the fourth place despite his 20-second time penalty as he was two minutes late at the midpoint service. He was the fastest driver in SS8 and SS10 and moved up to fourth at the end of Stage 7.
Thierry Neuville claimed two places and is now fifth overall, but he will fight to keep his position as Adrien Fourmaux is 1,2 behind him at sixth. The Belgian driver had a water pressure alert in Stage 9, but he managed to complete Friday afternoon.
Fourmaux will chase down his teammate Neuville on Saturday as their gap was less than three seconds on Friday afternoon.
Takamoto Katsuta slipped behind Hyundai duo in Stage 9 as he suffered from a double puncture on the front which means that he had no spare wheel for the three remaining stages of Friday afternoon. Before that, he lost his fourth position from his teammate Sami Pajari at the end of SS7 with their gap having been at 19,6 seconds in favor the last one.
Esapekka Lappi gained one position at the end of Stage 9 and is now eighth overall, but he made a mistake in Stage 9 as he overshot a junction and hit a tree. The problems continued for the Finn driver as there was an oil temperature alert in Stage 10.
Jon Armstrong was in eighth position overall at the end of Stage 8 despite his front left puncture, but he dropped outside the top ten in Stage 9 as he broke the rear driveshaft and had to make some repairs to his Puma in order to complete Friday afternoon.
Josh McErlean got a front left puncture in Stage 7, but he retired on the road section before the start of Stage 8 due to a broken gearbox.
Watch below the stage times:
Watch below the overall classification after Stage 10:
Photo Credits: Toyota
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