[WRC] Safari Rally Kenya 2021

[dimviii]

[dimviii]

[AnttiL]

https://twitter.com/nelly_ron/status...11889441800205

*Tejveer Rai* has shattered his spine and is being flown to *Germany* for treatment. We pray for full restoration and speedy recovery.

This was the driver who rolled the Polo by the front on a jump.

[dimviii]

SS8/11 Elmenteita (9.11 miles)

This was the fastest stage on the candidate rally back in 2019 and should be quick again this time around. Will be hard on the tires with much of the stage made up of a volcanic lava surface.

It’s a stage with great history – but not one that Tommi Mäkinen will remember with any fondness, having suffered six punctures on his Mitsubishi in the 1997 event.

https://dirtfish.com/rally/wrc/safar...y-stage-guide/

[AnttiL]

Zasada (the 91 year old one) has notional times for five of today's six stages. So I guess five of them eventually got stopped?

[AnttiL]

I agree with Tanak, only the long middle stage today felt like like a safari stage. The other two were too narrow, slow and in the forest (plus very bad fesh-fesh !)

Well those two stages were quite unique to the rally. Tomorrow's stages will be more like Kedong, although driven on smaller roads, and they include also short twisty bits.

If you follow one stage tomorrow, make sure it's Sleeping Warrior, it's first very fast and then very rocky rough and slow at the end.

[dimviii]

[PLuto]

Zasada (the 91 year old one) has notional times for five of today's six stages. So I guess five of them eventually got stopped?

As you can see here, all stages except SS 4 were at least interrupted today.

[Myrvold]

And from this Safari-religion-discussion, I like those changes as well, but from competition perspective it's not nice situation when you have only 6 of 11 WRC cars can survice 7 stages and 9.5min loss still gives you 7th place. And this one can get worse and boring to watch how everyone nursing their cars through. But this is just what someone like or not like, If you don't control rules and situation, you just need to adapt.

I know proper Safari was longer, but something like 8 out of 24 WRC/Gr.A cars finished in 2001 and 11 out of 50(?) in 2002. Again, I know that proper Safari, even in it's later years were 3-4 times as long as this years, but this is one rally out of 12 this season. And unless Greece get's proper old school as well this will be the sole rally like this. WRC lacks diversity in the events. This should've been longer, it should've been at least somewhat in between "Euro-Style Rally" and proper Safari, but it's better than nothing.

[the sniper]

Man, I'm very excited for day two. I agree with some that it's a bit of a shame that so many drivers struck trouble, and I'm a little bit worried the current event will never run the same. The fact that a WRC car got stuck simply on the road, plus the big accidents, makes me think there will be route changes for next time.

They only need to be sensible and step away from the beloved Dave Richards cloverleaf format... 5 longer stages run once rather than 3 repeated per day would make far more sense here.

Though at the end of the day, the two Fiestas made it through the stage after Kalle got stuck. Ironically in his case, what cost him was one of the few displays of great caution today, which was mistimed, as if he'd kept his foot in and maintained momentum he'd have made it through. On the other hand we've had the likes of Evans taking pointless cuts unsurprisingly exiting the rally. The Drivers need to rise to the challenge, not blame the rally.