The competition in Safari Rally Kenya got underway with traditional support of huge crowd of fans. Kajetan Kajetanowicz and Maciej Szczepaniak showed good pace right from the word go, winning the opening stage Kasarani in the WRC2 Challenger category. The Polish duo set third-fastest time in overall WRC2 standings. They are looking forward to Friday’s stages with optimistic feelings.
Just like in past seasons, Safari Rally Kenya started with a superspecial Kasarani, contested head-to-head by two cars. Adrenaline ran high and although it was just a warm-up ahead of proper fight on special stages, some competitors did nod avoid mistakes. Singh Vohra rolled his car and Charles Munster went off the road. Kajetanowicz and Szczepaniak, representing the ORLEN Team, fortunately reached the finish line without problems, showing very good pace – with top time in the WRC2 Challenger standings.
– Our season got underway and I was very much looking forward to it. The first stage was just an introduction to proper competition but it was very enjoyable to drive. Plenty of fans watched the show, the atmosphere was fantastic. Now it’s time to cover some kilometres form Nairobi to Naivasha, with some fight on road sections as well – the rules are completely different here and I don’t mean left-hand traffic! Jokes aside, very difficult stages await us. The proper job is still ahead. I hope to take this challenge very wisely, just as we did it last season and two years ago. We are prepared but I always say that I expect unexpected here, so I will watch the road carefully
– Kajetan Kajetanowicz, triple European Rally Champion, commented after the first stage.
The Friday’s part of Safari Rally Kenya consists of three special stages, run in two loops: SS2/5 Loldia (19.17 kms, starts at 6:15 and 11:48 CET), SS3/6 Geothermal (13.12 kms, at 7:33 and 13:06 CET) and the longest test of the day, SS4/7 Kedong (31.50 kms, at 8:26 and 13:59 CET).
Starts of Kajetan Kajetanowicz are supported by the title partner of the ORLEN Rally Team – ORLEN S.A., as well as technical partner Delphi, Pirelli, ORLEN OIL, ATC CARGO S.A. and SJS S.A.
Safari Rally Kenya 2024, unofficial results after SS1 (WRC2 Challenger):
- Kajetanowicz/Szczepaniak (Škoda Fabia RS Rally2) 3:29.6
- Ciamin/Roche (Hyundai i20 N Rally2) +3.9
- Domínguez/Peñate (Citroën C3 Rally2) +6.5
- Chwist/Heller (Škoda Fabia RS Rally2) +8.4
- Tundo/Jessop (Ford Fiesta R5) +13.3
- Patel/Khan (Škoda Fabia R5) +13.8
- Díaz-Aboitiz/Sanjuan (Škoda Fabia Rally2 evo) +14.3
- Munster/Dumont (Hyundai i20 N Rally2) +16.4
- Vassilakis/Krawszik (Ford Fiesta Rally2) +21.2
- Virani/Shah (Škoda Fabia R5) +42.6
