Rovanpera closes on leader Ogier in rain
Reigning world rally champion Kalle Rovanpera almost halved the deficit to Safari Rally Kenya leader Sebastien Ogier after he started Saturday with a 22.8s lead and the Toyota driver went on to stamp his authority on the event in the afternoon.
However, heavy rain arrived during the day's final stage, which allowed Rovanpera to cut Ogier's lead to just 16.7s. Toyota's Elfyn Evans ended the day 2m23.3s down on Rovanpera in third after leapfrogging team-mate Takamoto Katsuta in the tricky wet conditions in stage 13. Dani Sordo led Hyundai's charge in fifth after team-mate Esapekka Lappi retired on stage 11 with a mechanical issue. M-Sport's Ott Tanak and Pierre-Louis Loubet managed to survive to hold onto sixth and seventh overall, while Thierry Neuville has recovered to ninth after his Friday retirement behind WRC2 leader Kajetan Kajetanowicz.
Sunday brings the final six stages and hopefully, no more rain!
24th June, 2023