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The WRC Safari rally organisers are already counting the days until next year’s big African adventure.
The 2023 Safari Rally fever all started from the moments when Ott Tänak was going for a run with world marathon record holder Eliud Kipchoge while Africa’s fastest man Ferdinand Omanyala was taking on Kalle Rovanperä in Athi River all the way to a quite simply stunning Sunday.
A slightly different week meant a Wednesday shakedown and the craziness started right there as Japan’s Takamoto Katsuta spectacularly barrel-rolled his Toyota GR Yaris Rally1. Fortunately, Katsuta, Aaron Johnston (his navigator), and the Toyota were all perfectly fine.
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17:00 - 27.06.2023
MOTORSPORTS Safari Rally proved Toyota’s reliability, boasts team principal after 1-2-3-4 sweep
The Toyota Gazoo Racing boss lauded his team for doing their homework well to dominate the grueling Kenyan leg of the World Rally Championship.
The same could definitely be said for President William Ruto who made his WRC "debut" alongside Pierre-Louis Loubet in a Ford Puma Rally1 Hybrid and he was thrilled to experience that.
By his own admission, he was not sure when he will next be in a rally car, but he and the Frenchman simply could not stop smiling.
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The reason for going a day early in shakedown is to make room for the ceremonial start in the center of Nairobi and the super special stage at Kasarani.
The welcome in the capital city has to be seen to be believed. People hung from every point to catch a glimpse of the world’s best driving down the liaison section and the crowds at the stage itself were huge.
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10:50 - 27.06.2023
MOTORSPORTS: Ogier still in awe at ‘exhausting‘ Safari Rally victory after ‘one hell of a weekend’ in Naivasha
The eight-time world champion has described the special feeling of winning the Kenyan leg of the World Rally Championship
That was, of course, nothing because once the locals started doing their thing, the Safari theme went into overdrive. There were lions, zebras, rhinos, impalas, and just about everything you could possibly imagine out and about on the roads around Lake Naivasha.
Kenya is truly unique in this great season of the Safari rally and that final day could not have been more fitting. What a battle, what an absolute edge-of-the-seat conclusion to a cracking four days.
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In a word, brilliant. The WRC Safari rally organisers are already counting the days until next year’s big African adventure.
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