Kenya’s Carl Tundo maintains Safari Rally charge

Carl Tundo and Tim Jessop kept their battle for the important WRC2 Class with a determined drive throughout the competition.

The Škoda Fabia crew were the top local competitors sandwiched between the top drivers from across the World.

The FIA WRC2 Championship is a support championship of the World Rally Championship (WRC). The calendar consists of the same rallies and stages as the parent series and crews usually compete immediately after Rally1 class crews. 

WRC2 is limited to production-based cars homologated under Group Rally2 (or previous R5) rules. There are separate specific championship titles awarded to Teams, Drivers, and Co-Drivers (including titles for Challengers in 2023, previously for Juniors under 30 years old).

Former double winner of the Safari Rally, Glen Edmunds of Kenya was happy mixing up with the Ford Rally Team.

“This is my 50th Safari Rally since my first event with Ford in 1973. I won the Safari Rally in 2003 and 2005. These are fantastic memories,” Edmunds told Nation Sport.

It was also a sad moment for Gregorio Munster and Louis Louka. The Ford Fiesta crew was forced to retire while leading the WRC2 Class at the end of Stage 11.

“It was going so well! We took back the lead of the WRC2 class in stage 11 but had to retire on our way to the next stage due to a mechanical issue. It’s difficult to accept but sometimes, the harsh reality of motorsports hits you and you can’t do anything about it,” Munster commented on his Facebook page.

Rally fans were said to have behaved well by following the Spectator Stage rules set by the organisers of Kenya’s biggest motorsport event.

Special camping sites were located in several stages in addition to normal spectator zones.

Kenyans were celebrating the 70th edition of the famous event which was first run under the Coronation Safari Rally in 1953.

This year’s major event was the seventh round of the 2023 World Rally Championship.

The remaining rounds of the 2023 WRC are: Rally Estonia, 5/6 August - Finland Rally, 9/10 September - Rally Greece, 30 Sept/1 Oct - Rally Chile, 28/29 October - Rally Europe and 18/19 November - Rally Japan.

A minor accident marred the rally on Saturday when Geogerios Visalakis/Thomas Krawszik crashed their Ford Fiesta into a culvert while lying 23rd overall.

The Safari Rally Chief Medical Officer, Dr Raj Jutley, said the crew was driving back to the Rally Service Park in Naivasha when the incident occurred after they hit an embankment at the Gilgil weighbridge.

The injured navigator was flown to Wilson Airport in Nairobi and then rushed to the Aga Khan Hospital for management after the dusk accident.

"The two were attended to before the navigator was airlifted to Nairobi but he was stabilised and is in a fairly good condition," Dr Jutley said.

"All that I can say is that our team responded in real time after the information was relayed to our control room," he said.

The 10.53km Hell's Gate Stage was the Power Stage of the competition.

The Power Stage (abbreviated as PS) is a Special Stage that usually runs as the final stage of a rally in the World Rally Championship (WRC) and European Rally Championships (ERC). Additional championship points are available to the fastest five crews through the stage regardless of where they actually finished in the rally.

Unlike normal special stages, which are timed to a tenth of a second, the timing of the Power Stage is to a thousandth of a second.

Sebastian Ogier, 39, is a French rally driver under the Toyota Gazoo Racing Team. Ogier has won the World Rally Championship on eight different occasions.