WRC Safari Rally: Drivers continue protest, Tänak leads rally as Fourmaux retires

Ott Tänak leads Safari Rally Kenya after Thursday’s opening two stages as his team-mate Adrien Fourmaux was forced to retire. Meanwhile, the WRC drivers continued their interview protest.

While the rally’s first stages were run today, Thursday in Kenya was primarily dominated by the WRC drivers’ interview-protest.

During yesterday’s shakedown, the drivers released a statement saying that they would answer stage-end interviews in their own (native) language or say nothing at all. All in the wake of Adrien Fourmaux’s swearing fine during the Rally of Sweden. It is understood that the FIA did reach out to the drivers following yesterday’s protests, confirming that the governing body plans to discuss the matter after this weekend’s Safari Rally.

Nevertheless, the drivers continued their protest today. Some drivers answered in their own language, for example, Takamoto Katsuta spoke Japanese and Grégoire Munster spoke French. Sami Pajari was one of the drivers who said nothing. The Toyota junior only pointed to his cracked windscreen and then shrugged his shoulders.

Ott Tänak did speak English and jokingly said to the interviewer that the person “can take a holiday this weekend,” without talking in context about the stage. Adrien Fourmaux only said, “Hakuna Matata,” Swahili for “No worries.”

Problems for Fourmaux after regroup

There were problems for Fourmaux a few moments later, however, as his car wouldn’t start after the regroup between SS1 and SS2. The Frenchman exceeded the maximum delay time and thus was forced to retire for the day.

Thierry Neuville had a moment in SS2 and suffered a technical problem with his Hyundai after the stage. The reigning world champion did manage to get his car into the parc fermé (in time). However, his moment in stage 2 put him in eighth overall, 19.7 seconds behind leader Ott Tänak after two (relatively) short stages.

Behind Tänak, it’s Takamoto Katsuta who is in P2 followed by M-Sport’s Grégoire Munster, Kalle Rovanperä, Elfyn Evans, Josh McErlean and Sami Pajari.

In WRC2, Kajetan Kajetanowicz leads by 1.3s ahead of Oliver Solberg. Kajetanowicz switched, like Solberg, to a Toyota GR Yaris Rally2 for this season after years of driving Skoda Rally2 cars.

Tomorrow’s itinerary consists of eight stages totalling a massive 157.58 competitive kilometres. The opening stage of the day starts at 07:28 local time (05:28 CET, 04:28 GMT).

ALL INFO, LIVE TIMING & MORE – WRC Safari Rally Kenya 2025: Itinerary, Live Timing, Rally Guides, Entry list

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Photo: Hyundai Motorsport