We’ll go full throttle in Safari, M-Sport team boss vows

M-Sport Ford has not had a good run in the Safari Rally, but team principal Richard Millener has promised a change of fortune when the World Rally Championship makes a stop in Kenya from June 22-25.

"Let’s bounce back in Kenya, we will not give up, that’s for sure!” said Millener after the team suffered misfortunes in Sardinia recently, but former world champion Ott Tanak showed great form in picking four bonus points in the Wolf Power Stage.

"What can I say, I feel so sorry for the whole team, everyone is trying so hard and we have just not had any luck this weekend," said Millener.

"Ott gave his all for the Power Stage and managed to gain four vital championship points, but the retirement of Pierre was a huge disappointment. Adrien drove a fantastic rally, he pushed where needed, and was controlled for the rest of the rally - through what can only be described as crazy conditions.

"The result was not what he deserved, but we will stand by him, in rally there are always difficult times, but his speed and showing of talent this weekend is what we should remember.," he said.

Ford is fielding three cars for Tanak, Pierre Louis Loubet and Jordan Serderidis in the Ford Puma Hybrid cars. The team has also entered Gregoire Munster in the Rally 2 category in a Ford Fiesta MKII

“We will take a bit of time to refocus and get ready for Kenya," said Pierre-Louis Loubet after his disappointing outing in Italy.

Hyundai is coming to Kenya with a morale boosting advantage after Thierry Neuville won in Sardinia in the Hyundai i20 Hybrid car.  As a result of his win, Thierry has jumped to second place in the drivers’ standings.

Neuville’s victory was by no means an easy feat; uncharacteristic rain in Sardinia on Friday and Saturday exacerbated the difficult conditions on the stages, causing problems for many competitors.

“I’m really happy to be on the top step of the podium after such a challenging and incredible weekend,” Neuville said.

“We had to manage the tyres throughout, and it was very tough on our cars but we had great reliability and it really paid off.”

Meanwhile, Katsuta Takamoto believes lady luck will smile on his face in Naivasha, having finished on the podium there for the last two years.

While his hopes of a similar result in Italy were spoiled by an over enthusiastic approach to a watersplash last week, the Japanese are remaining upbeat ahead of Kenya.

“Kenya is a good rally for me,” Katsuta told WRC.com. “I like this one; good results there for the last two years. I feel like I was showing good speed in Sardinia, the pace was good from the start on Friday morning: we did a good run in the second stage and it was nice to be fastest," said Takamoto.

Toyota team principal Jari-Matti Latvala backed Katsuta, adding: “Takamoto showed some good pace this weekend in what was a very challenging rally and we are really happy to see that speed. There were just a couple of small mistakes, which can happen, and it’s something that we will look into and analyse with him and try to improve for the future.

“We know that he has the speed to fight for the podium and now we just need to try and get the consistency. Again he showed in the Wolf Power Stage with the third-fastest time that when he attacks then the speed is there. Now he can look forward to Kenya which we know is one of his favourite events.”