{"id":3732,"date":"2026-03-15T18:15:35","date_gmt":"2026-03-15T18:15:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.worldrally.eu\/?p=3732"},"modified":"2026-03-15T18:18:34","modified_gmt":"2026-03-15T18:18:34","slug":"long-awaited-first-win-for-taka-katsuta-conquers-the-safari-rally-kenya","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.worldrally.eu\/index.php\/2026\/03\/15\/long-awaited-first-win-for-taka-katsuta-conquers-the-safari-rally-kenya\/","title":{"rendered":"Long\u2011Awaited First Win for Taka: Katsuta Conquers the Safari Rally Kenya"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The Safari Rally Kenya, third round of the WRC, once again lived up to its reputation as the toughest event of the season.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thursday<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

The action officially began with a 6.31 km shakedown, where Thierry Neuville topped the times on his third run with 4:33.1, followed by Oliver Solberg and Sami Pajari.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But the rally\u2019s first competitive stage immediately set the tone for the weekend. Heavy rain turned SS1 into a mud\u2011soaked nightmare, Solberg even described it as the <\/em>worst stage of his life. SS2 was drier but still a deep\u2011mud challenge.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Several drivers battled overheating engines as mud clogged their air filters, including Neuville, Fourmaux, Lappi, Armstrong<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Despite the chaos, Toyota dominated Day 1, locking out the entire top five:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \n
  1. 1. Solberg \u2013 30:18.6<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  2. 2. Evans \u2013 +33.3<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  3. 3. Ogier \u2013 +1:05.1<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  4. 4. Katsuta \u2013 +1:15.3<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  5. 5. Pajari \u2013 +2:06.4<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n

    Friday<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

    Friday was the calm before the storm. It featured eight stages: Loldia (run twice), Kengen Geothermal (run twice), Kedong (run twice), Mzabibu and the planned Camp Moran, which was cancelled after Thursday\u2019s rain left the road unusable.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Compared to the chaos of Day 1, Friday ran relatively smoothly. There were still several punctures to contend with, affecting Pajari and Neuville in SS5, Ogier in SS6, McErlean and Katsuta in SS7, and Armstrong and Solberg in SS8, while water\u2011temperature warnings hit McErlean in SS4, Neuville in SS9 and Armstrong in SS9 had to stop at 5.1 km with a broken rear\u2011right driveshaft and compression strut. Despite the scattered issues, the were no huge changes to the top of the leaderboard.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \"\"
    Jon Armstrong and Shane Byrne \/ Jaanus Ree \/ Red Bull Content Pool <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

    Friday standings<\/h4>\n\n\n\n
      \n
    1. 1. Solberg \u2013 1:33:50.2<\/li>\n\n\n\n
    2. 2. Ogier \u2013 +1.0<\/li>\n\n\n\n
    3. 3. Evans \u2013 +20.5<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n

      Saturday<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

      Saturday delivered the chaos the Safari Rally is famous for, with a loop through Soysambu, Elmenteita and Sleeping Warrior, although the second run of Sleeping Warrior was cancelled after torrential rain made it impassable. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

      SS12 immediately sparked frustration among the crews, as changes made after recce were communicated only through a video, and the sticks marking the route disappeared almost instantly, exposing sharp rocks that turned the stage into a minefield. Solberg, Evans, Pajari, Lappi and Armstrong all suffered punctures or tyres coming off the rim. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

      SS13 brought a major blow for Toyota when Evans retired for the day with a broken rear\u2011right suspension. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

      Then came SS14, the most brutal stage of the weekend, claiming multiple victims: Neuville changed two punctures before suffering a third with no spares left; Ogier retired with alternator failure; Solberg stopped with transmission and alternator issues; Armstrong endured a puncture, a water\u2011pressure alert and a 20\u2011minute stop before facing another puncture and water\u2011temperature problems in SS15; and McErlean retired completely with engine damage. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

      By the end of the day, the rally had been turned upside down.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      Saturday standings<\/h4>\n\n\n\n
        \n
      1. 1. Katsuta \u2013 2:41:00.2<\/li>\n\n\n\n
      2. 2. Fourmaux \u2013 +1:25.5<\/li>\n\n\n\n
      3. 3. Pajari \u2013 +5:29.1<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n

        Sunday<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
        \"\"
        Adrien Fourmaux and Alexandre Coria \/ Jaanus Ree \/ Red Bull Content Pool <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

        The final day featured two passes through Oserengoni and Hell\u2019s Gate. Fourmaux applied pressure, but Katsuta drove with calmness and precision, refusing to crack under the weight of a potential first WRC victory.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

        After years of near\u2011misses, heartbreaks and relentless effort, Taka finally claimed his first WRC win, and did it on the toughest rally of them all.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

        Final results<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
          \n
        1. 1. Katsuta \u2013 3:16:05.6<\/li>\n\n\n\n
        2. 2. Fourmaux \u2013 +27.4<\/li>\n\n\n\n
        3. 3. Pajari \u2013 +4:26.1<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n

          Power Stage & Super Sunday Results<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
            \n
          1. 1. Solberg<\/li>\n\n\n\n
          2. 2. Ogier<\/li>\n\n\n\n
          3. 3. Evans<\/li>\n\n\n\n
          4. 4. Neuville<\/li>\n\n\n\n
          5. 5. Fourmaux<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

            The Safari Rally Kenya, third round of the WRC, once again lived up to its reputation as the toughest event of the season. Thursday The action officially began with a 6.31 km shakedown, where Thierry Neuville topped the times on his third run with 4:33.1, followed by Oliver Solberg and Sami Pajari. But the rally\u2019s […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":3733,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[16,15],"class_list":["post-3732","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-wrc","tag-kenya","tag-safari"],"aioseo_notices":[],"cc_featured_image_caption":{"caption_text":"Photo by Jaanus Ree \/ Red Bull Content Pool","source_text":"","source_url":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.worldrally.eu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3732","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.worldrally.eu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.worldrally.eu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.worldrally.eu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.worldrally.eu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3732"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.worldrally.eu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3732\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3738,"href":"https:\/\/www.worldrally.eu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3732\/revisions\/3738"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.worldrally.eu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3733"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.worldrally.eu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3732"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.worldrally.eu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3732"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.worldrally.eu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3732"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}