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Sebastien Loeb Fastest on WRC Safari Rally Friday Morning Opener, Ogier Still on the Lead

The 2022 WRC Safari Rally officially kicked off on Thursday in Nairobi city. Sebastien Ogier and Sebastien Loeb gave an impressive performance at the super special two-on-two event before retiring north of the city, where the leg officially started on Friday.
2022 WRC Safari Rally Kenya 8 photos
Photo: WRC/TOYOTA GAZOO Racing/Ford M-Sport
2022 WRC Safari Rally Kenya2022 WRC Safari Rally Kenya2022 WRC Safari Rally Kenya2022 WRC Safari Rally Kenya2022 WRC Safari Rally Kick Off2022 WRC Safari Rally Kick Off2022 WRC Safari Rally Kick Off
Nine-time WRC holder Sebastien Loeb drew first blood on Friday morning, winning the opener stage driving his M-Sport Ford Puma. Loeb edged Toyota Gazoo Racing driver Elfyn Evans by two-tenths of a second, as Sebastien Ogier held on to the lead five-tenths down.

It wasn't smooth sailing for Loeb. He ran wide on a corner after making a pace note change and clipped a tree, causing some damage on the rear-left quarter of the M-Sport Ford Puma. Ott Tanak was in a worse predicament after snapping his Hyundai i20 N gear lever, forcing him to fumble with the horizontal selector and eventually finishing 36.4-seconds off the pace.

After the opener stage, Ogier was five-tenths of a second down on lead time but still topped the leaderboard thanks to his impressive performance on Thursday's super special.

Ogier admitted to struggling towards the end of the stage but said it wasn't too bad. "I think the worst is coming!" he confessed after the stage.

Loeb, who at the time was two-tenths up on Ogier's teammate Evans, doesn't think his tree-clipping incident is a big problem since it's only light damage. He said that his tricky pace note change led to the incident.

On the third stage, Kalle Rovanpera pulled an unlikely stage win. He complained of loose conditions on the third run, saying he expected better grip.

Toyota Gazoo Racing driver Ogier still holds first position, closely followed by teammate Elfyn Evans, and Loeb at third.

During the super special two-on-two event in Nairobi yesterday, Ogier and Loeb gave a breath-taking performance rivaling each other through the time-attack special. The dramatic chase-down heightened the spectators' anticipation of what was to come on the Friday opener. Ogier took the lead beating Loeb at the super special.

Friday's events end after the Kedong 31.25 km (19.41 mi) stage. The total distance of the day combined is 124.20 km (77.17 mi). At the time of publishing, Ogier leads the event at 24 mins 24.9-seconds, followed by Teammate Evans at +0.8-seconds and Loeb at +1.1-seconds.


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About the author: Humphrey Bwayo
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Humphrey is a car enthusiast whose love and passion for automobiles extended into collecting, writing, driving, and working on cars. He got his passion for cars from his Dad, who spent thousands of hours working on his old junky 1970 E20 Toyota Corolla. Years later, he would end up doing the same with a series of lemons he’s owned throughout his adult life.
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