Reigning world rally champion Kalle Rovanperä took command of the day setting the pace to take a big lead into the third leg of WRC Safari Rally Kenya.
The Toyota Gazoo Racing driver meant business as he smoothly posted the fastest times of the day’s six stages extending his lead to a 56.9 seconds.
The Finn did not hide his excitement at the end of the day.
“I have to be happy with that,” Rovanperä smiled. “For sure, on the last one the conditions were quite rough, and I think from every car [the ruts] get a bit deeper in places,” said Rovanperä
“I didn’t take any risks and I was going around all the stones to try and keep the car in one piece. I would have loved to go even faster, but at this point, this is ok,” he added.
In second place at the end of the day is Elfyn Evans followed by Takamoto Katsuta to make it a Toyota 1-2-3 into the third leg.
Hyundai’s Esapekka Lappi who was closely chasing Rovanperä suffered a transmission failure ending his day in SS5.
More disaster befell Hyundai camp after Ott Tanak who had claimed the second position did not last after he hit a rock in SS6 ending the day with a broken steering.
Hyundai’s only hope now remains with Thierry Neuville who survived punctures in the morning loop. He ends the day in fourth behind the three Toyotas.
M-Sport Ford’s Adrian Fourmaux completed the top five followed by teammate Grégoire Munster.
In WRC2, Gus Greensmith was incident free, registering a commanding lead away from his competitors who were troubled throughout the day.
Oliver Solberg encountered two punctures in the morning loop while Kajetan Kajetanowicz kept complaining about the feel of of the car.
Among the locals crews, Karan Patel is the best placed after the day. He is occupying 13th position overall while Carlo Tundo is 17th after suffering two punctures incidents in the day.
Uganda’s Yasin Nasser was among the casualties of the day after rolling his Ford Fiesta in SS7.
WRC Safari Rally Kenya resumes on Saturday, which is the longest day of the rally.