Oliver Solberg maintains Safari Rally Kenya lead despite puncture
13th March 2026Toyota’s Oliver Solberg has lost his advantage but maintains the overnight lead over teammate Sebastien Ogier, by a second, at the World Rally Championship’s Safari Rally Kenya
Feature image credit: Jaanus Ree // Red Bull Content Pool
After a delay to start Friday’s action, the event finally resumed just after 9am local time. The second pass of Camp Moran was cancelled due to deteriorating road conditions, which the crews had begun to tackle on Thursday through a heavy rain shower.
Solberg entered Friday with the overnight lead and a strong 33-second advantage over his teammate, Elfyn Evans, heading into the first full day of the event. But now, the Swede heads into Saturday’s action with a measly second in-hand over defending world champion Ogier.
The leading Toyota’s early lead looked to be ironclad as the Swede lost time in the opening stages but soon regained his lost time. However, the top two closed in on each other after SS8 – Kengen Geothermal 2.
Toyota’s rally leader suffered a puncture and bled time, finishing the stage one second, overall, ahead of Ogier, who had moved up to second after overtaking Evans on the previous stage: SS7 – Kedong 2.
Further back, Takamoto Katsuta, Toyota, also suffered problems as the Japanese driver suffered a double-front puncture on the second pass of Kedong. Eventually, at the end of Friday’s action, Katsuta fell to seventh overall – ruining Toyota’s top-five clean sweep.
Hyundai’s Thierry Neuville and Adrian Fourmaux filled the gap between the Toyota drivers, in fifth and sixth.
So who finished where on Day 2?
- Oliver Solberg, Toyota – 1hr 33m 50.2s
- Sebastien Ogier, Toyota +1s
- Elfyn Evans, Toyota +20.5s
- Sami Pajari, Toyota +1m 10.5s
- Thierry Neuville, Hyundai +1m 46.1s
- Adrien Fourmaux, Hyundai +1m 47.3s
- Takamoto Katsuta, Toyota +1m 53.3s
- Esapekka Lappi, Hyundai +2m 53.2s
M-Sport Ford’s Jon Armstrong and Joshua McErlean finished day two down in 16th and 19th, 27m 35.8s and 36m 2.5s behind Solberg’s leading pace, respectively.
Read more WRC here:
- WRC confirm Safari Rally Kenya delay after Camp Moran cancelled
- Oliver Solberg charges ahead on opening day of Safari Rally Kenya
- Adrian Fourmaux tops first run of Safari Rally Kenya shakedown
- Safari Rally Kenya Preview: A flashback to the past and Ogier’s return
- Itinerary: WRC 2026 Safari Rally Kenya
- Weather report: the latest forecast for Safari Rally Kenya
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Hi, I’m Kamron. I created ApexMotorsports.co.uk in the dying embers of the 2021 Formula 1 world championship. It allowed me freedom to write whatever I wanted to write about which was all things motorsports, my passion.
I have put a lot of effort in over the years to keep this website in its best shape and I’ve loved seeing the brand grow consistently, month-on-month, year-on-year. My ambition is to keep watching this brand grow into a primary outlet of news for all things motorsports whilst fueling my desire to pursue a career in sports journalism, specialising in motorsports.
Kamron Kent
Hi, I'm Kamron. I created ApexMotorsports.co.uk in the dying embers of the 2021 Formula 1 world championship. It allowed me freedom to write whatever I wanted to write about which was all things motorsports, my passion. I have put a lot of effort in over the years to keep this website in its best shape and I've loved seeing the brand grow consistently, month-on-month, year-on-year. My ambition is to keep watching this brand grow into a primary outlet of news for all things motorsports whilst fueling my desire to pursue a career in sports journalism, specialising in motorsports.
