Finland’s Kalle Rovanpera celebrated his second career Safari Rally title in his 12th World Rally Championship victory.
At the same time, Kenya’s 2023 Junior WRC contender Hamza Anwar, celebrated his first career WRC3 victory on his first outing in the M-Sport-prepared Ford Fiesta Rally 3.
Despite a tough weekend which compelled Hamza to restart on Super Rally, the reigning African Junior champion finally won the WRC3 title as the sole entrant and finisher in the WRC support category.
“This particular Safari has been a very tough one, very demanding, but we enjoyed it. Unfortunately, it’s a new car (Ford Fiesta Rally3), so we didn’t have any spare parts, and on Kasarani SSS, we lost the radiator fan and the temperatures were getting quite hot."
"However, we managed to bypass a wire, but the next day, unfortunately, it started overheating again. We’ve just been taking it easy on this rally and I'm happy to win the WRC3,” Hamza explained.
On a weekend of high attrition rates, Kalle delivered a superb piece of driving, beating his Japanese Toyota Gazoo stablemate Takamoto Katsuta by 1 minute and 37 seconds as M-Sport’s Adrien Fourmaux completed the podium dash in a Puma Rally 1 Hybrid.
Rovanpera has driven this year’s Safari in a privileged position through and through even when most of his Rally1 race adversaries suffered setbacks in the unforgiving Naivasha 'Fesh Fesh'.
Toyota Gazoo Racing Team Principal Jari-Matti Latvala praised his team for a 1-2-4 finish with Brit Elfyn Evans taking fourth for the Japanese manufacturer.
Latvala said: “I must say Rovanpera was on fire from the onset. He had a very clever approach and didn’t have any issues during the entire weekend, thanks to the team for providing such a good car.
The way he drove the car was superb. He considered the sections which he had to attack and the ones he didn’t to conserve the car.”
Asked about Taka’s third podium in Kenya, Latvala said: “This is the big rally that Taka loves, and so happy seeing him on the podium in second place is not a surprise. He had a great skill all the way and at the end, he didn’t make any mistakes. Good for Taka and the team and also Elfyn, who was cruising well. Elfyn didn’t have a good rally because of the punctures."
Takamoto, who replicated his 2021 performance when he finished second behind Sebastien Ogier, took another podium third in 2022 and completed the historic Toyota Gazo 1-2-3-4 when he settled for fourth in 2023.
Following his run on the Wolf Power stage, which ended the 19-stage showpiece, Kalle commented: “A very tough weekend I must say, with high rates of attrition and rocks, but I’m happy that the team prepared the car really well. I am proud to drive this car to another Safari podium in Kenya.”
