Safari Rally 2023 | 5 talking points | GRR

1. Ogier survives Safari drama to win

Yet again, the World Rally Championship was left pondering what it’s missing by Sébastien Ogier only committing to a part-time campaign. The eight-time champion found himself pitted against reigning WRC king Kalle Rovanperä once more on the Safari Rally, the Frenchman just prevailing in the closest finish ever seen on the event.

But Ogier was hanging on at the end after a dramatic final day in Kenya. On the second stage of the final leg, he ran wide in the infamous fesh fesh sand and tagged a tree, ripping out the whole tailgate from the rear of his GR Yaris Rally1. Yet somehow he recovered to still win the stage – then he and co-driver Vincent Landais plugged the gap to the cockpit with bin liners and balaclavas!

But Rovanperä kept on coming for him. On the penultimate stage, all four Toyotas suffered overheating troubles in the thick dust, with Ogier heading into the Power Stage finale just 9.2 seconds ahead of the young Finn. Even then on that final run, he faced trouble as a stone cracked his windscreen, Ogier just clinging on to win by 6.7 seconds.

“Unbelievable! Look at that, even on the Power Stage I got a stone on the windscreen!” said an amazed Ogier after his third win in five rallies this season and the second Safari victory of his amazing career. “We had a lot of issues to face but it could have been a more comfortable rally for us in terms of pace. A lot of misfortune but we brought it home.”

2. Rovanperä looking good for the title

He’s never happy to play second-fiddle to Ogier, but Rovanperä had to be satisfied with his second place, which has only strengthened his position at the head of the WRC points table. The 22-year-old is now 41 points ahead of nearest rival and team-mate Elfyn Evans after seven of the 13 rounds this year and a second consecutive crown looks odds on.

“You always want to fight for the win but we did our best starting first car on the road, so regarding that, I think it’s not fully bad,” said Rovanperä at the end of the Power Stage. “Good points for the season anyway.”

We’ve said it before and make no apology for the repetition: what a shame the pair aren’t going toe-to-toe in all 13 rounds this season. It’s the WRC’s loss – and ours, too.

3. Another 1-2-3-4 for Toyota

Just like last year, Toyota completed a clean sweep of the top four places. Takamoto Katsuma was bidding for a third podium on the Safari Rally, only for a loss of hybrid power to scupper his hopes. That left Elfyn Evans clear to take the final step, albeit almost three minutes down on Ogier. The Welshman was promoted to second in the championship after Thierry Neuville was disqualified from eighth place on Sunday night after a breach of the recce regulations emerged. The Belgian and his Hyundai squad suffered a torrid Safari, suspension failure on Friday limiting the Rally Sardinia winner to eighth – before the extra sting in the tail.

The best Hyundai was Dani Sordo’s in fifth, the Spaniard overcoming power steering failure to make it home. Meanwhile, tyre trouble hampered the M-Sport Ford Pumas, Ott Tänak and Pierre-Louis Loubet finishing a distant sixth and seventh. Tänak is fourth in the standings, equal on points with Ogier.

The WRC reconvenes on July 20-23 on Rally Estonia.

4. Peloton racing comes to Portland

Best known as an IndyCar and NASCAR venue, green and pleasant Portland Raceway hosted Formula E for the first time on Saturday, the all-electric series attracting a decent crowd. They witnessed an odd motor race that no one wanted to lead, which then ended in a quick-fire three-way shootout for victory.

Portland represented a rare departure for Formula E as the series usually takes place on pop-up street circuits in or around city centres. Out here on a flowing natural race circuit, the need to manage energy became magnified and exaggerated the ‘peloton’ style of racing that has become characteristic of this new Gen3 era. The field remained bunched for almost the duration as drivers prioritised saving as much spark as possible for the latter stages.

That meant it was best to actually avoid leading the race and keep in the draft, as cars fanned out on the main straight as if it was the start on most laps before sorting themselves into some form of order through the dogleg Turns 1 and 2. It meant that in total there were 403 passing moves, although only a tiny percentage could be considered to really count…

5. Cassidy wins the shootout

After two safety car interruptions and a lot of racing laps that didn’t mean much, the e-Prix came down to a three-way battle between championship rivals Nick Cassidy and Jake Dennis, and Porsche works driver Antonio Felix da Costa, who is out of the title hunt and therefore had less to lose.

In a race extended by four laps because of the interruptions, the trio finally let loose with a few laps to go. It was Cassidy who once again proved the most adept at timing his run to perfection. The Kiwi, who drives for the Jaguar-powered Envision team, took the flag for his third victory of the year and jumped back to the head of the title standings.

Dennis was second for Porsche-powered Andretti, as he has been in four of the past five rounds. The British driver started from pole position, a status declared “unlucky” by Cassidy in a comment that said it all about this wacky way of going racing. The pole had at least pushed Dennis back ahead of Porsche works driver Pascal Wehrlein in the points pre-race, but he leaves Portland just one behind Cassidy with just four rounds to go – two in Rome on July 15/16 and two in and around London’s ExCel arena on July 29/30.

From leading, Wehrlein is now 16 points down on Cassidy after front wing damage incurred in the pack racing left him eighth. Jaguar’s Mitch Evans finished fourth, but should now be considered a title long-shot, 32 points down on his countryman.

Images courtesy of Motorsport Images