How Ogier held his nerve to repeat Toyota's Safari WRC rout

By:

Tom Howard

Jun 26, 2023, 4:29 PM

Drama was in plentiful supply in the World Rally Championship's visit to Kenya for the Safari Rally, which lived up to its reputation as a challenge like no other. As Hyundai's challenge faltered, Sebastien Ogier headed a top four sweep for Toyota but only after defeating Kalle Rovanpera in a tense conclusion that set a new record for the event's smallest winning margin.

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“I rarely have had to fight like this. Sometimes you have to fight hard against the clock and against your competitors, but this time it was more fighting against all the issues I had to face.”

Such a frank admission from a World Rally Championship legend of Sebastien Ogier's renown is a perfect summary of last weekend’s 70th Safari Rally Kenya. While the event is no longer the brutal 5000km marathon that started the nation’s cultural obsession with rallying back in 1953, the trip to the African wilderness remains one of motorsport most gruelling events, where reaching the finish is an achievement.

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Tom Howard

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Tom Howard is a News Editor working across both Autosport.com and Motorsport.com websites. Starting out as a sports reporter in local newspapers, Tom focussed on motorsport covering several national championships in the UK, including the BTCC.

After a period working as a freelance journalist, Tom moved to Australia in 2013 landing a job at leading Australian motorsport news outlet speedcafe.com, covering international motorsport events including F1, WRC and Supercars. Progressing to Editor in 2017, Tom was named Motorsport Australia Journalist of the Year for his work. He is also a two-time winner of Supercars Journalist of The Year (2017,2019) and a Supercars Championship Media Award winner in 2019.

Tom moved back to his native UK in 2020, firstly working in BTCC, before joining Autosport and motorsport.com in 2021.