After years, the Safari Rally is being held in March, the drivers are expecting a rainy lottery

The Safari Rally will take place as part of the WC for the fourth time in a row. In previous years, the competition was held in June, now it returns to the Easter period. The competitors are therefore preparing for changeable weather with rain showers. Instead of dirt roads, a “mud bath” cannot be ruled out.

Teams can therefore equip cars with so-called “snorkels”. A specially designed intake on the upper side of the windshield ensures that the engine is supplied with air and not water even when passing through the ford.

“The weather will be a major challenge this year. Moving the rally to March makes it a bit of a lottery given the expected rain. We’ll see if our position at the start will be an advantage or a disadvantage,” said Neuville, who, due to the lead in the championship, will start the opening stage first.

“We need the car to be reliable above all. This is the main thing when the stages are unpredictable. They don’t have to be the fastest, but they have to be able to survive in challenging conditions,” said the 35-year-old rider, whose best result in Kenya is fifth place in 2022. He was originally eighth last year, but was subsequently disqualified because he used the help of an unspecified person who tipped him off especially on stones on the track.

While Neuville does not consider the Safari rally to be a favorite race, the Toyota drivers are looking forward to Africa. The reigning champion Kalle Rovanperä from Finland will also be at the start, who this year only starts in selected competitions.

“It’s great to be back in Kenya. For me and the team, it’s a pretty good rally where we achieved excellent results. The atmosphere there was also great, I’m looking forward to it,” said Rovanperä, who won the rally in 2022 and was second to Sébastien Ogier of France last year. “It will be interesting to go there at this time of year, in the rainy season. We expect that it could be much muddier, and we have already seen in previous years that when it rains a little, the tracks are really difficult and slippery,” said the champion from the previous two years.

The number one team and the main aspirant for the title is Briton Elfyn Evans, who is three points behind Neuville in the World Championship standings. “The Safari Rally is the most extreme race on the calendar. It’s more about the adventure than the pure thrill of the ride, but I’m looking forward to it as always. We’ve had a decent start to the season, scored some good points, but Safari can be a bit of a lottery,” said Evans, who has been on the podium in the previous two years. He was second in 2022, third last year.