Neuville: Why Belgian driver was disqualified from Safari Rally Kenya
By Joel Sang, June 26, 2023Thierry Neuville was disqualified from the Safari Rally Kenya following a hearing at the rally base in Naivasha on Sunday, June 25, 2023.
In a report, the stewards summarised the findings received from the clerk of the course following an investigation that was initiated by the Safari Rally organisers.
The report indicated instances where an unauthorized person was seen to be driving on routes that would be used as special stages over the course of the rally after reconnaissance.
Illegal recce
He was finally disqualified from the Safari Rally Kenya after event stewards found him to have conducted illegal recce activities during the rally.
Neuville finished eighth overall at the FIA World Rally Championship’s seventh round but was disqualified by event stewards following a hearing at the rally base in Naivasha.
“The person was on private property without authorisation and was stopped by Officials in two locations on two different days. The evidence presented to the stewards indicated links between this person and Neuville.
“When asked, Neuville promptly admitted to the stewards that he was aware of the identified person and that he had requested this person’s support in identifying specific concerns (areas where rocks had moved) in some special stages,” a statement by the World Rally Championship read.
According to article 35.4.2 of the 2023 FIA WRC Sporting Regulations, “After the publication of the Supplementary Regulations, only with the express authorisation of the Clerk of the Course and the FIA Rally Department may any person connected with an entered crew travel on or over the route of a special stage of the rally (except on foot).’
“The rule shall apply until that special stage is terminated, opened for public traffic, and will no longer be used within the rally.”
Remarkable Ogier
Meanwhile, Oliver Solberg and co-driver Elliott Edmondson were penalised following another decision by the stewards.
They were penalised two minutes for using one tire more than their allotted number of 26. However, the two-minute penalty had no impact on the pairing’s overall standing, with Martin Prokop still nearly nine minutes in arrears. But the disqualification of Neuville moved Solberg into ninth overall.
Meanwhile, Sebastien Ogier made another remarkable achievement as he recorded his third victory from just five starts so far this season.
But his rally very nearly unravelled in Sunday’s second special stage when a patch of infamous fesh-fesh sand sent his GR Yaris car wide on a right-hand bend.
Ogier fought hard to recover the minutes he had lost to his arch-rival Kalle Rovanpera in the rocky opener, clipped a tree, and ripped off his car’s entire rear tailgate. The French superstar finally patched the gap using a bin liner to keep dust at bay in Hell’s Gate 1.
Overheating engines
All four Yaris crews completed the penultimate blast with dust-induced overheating engines. Ogier saw his lead whittled down to just 9.2 seconds, despite being the hardest hit, before the Wolf Power Stage finale, where the eight-time world champion’s run was again far from clean, arriving at the flying finish with a cracked windscreen.
Despite the challenges faced, Ogier emerged the winner by 6.7 seconds after a grueling four-day exercise and spearheaded Toyota’s second clean sweep in as many Safari Rally editions.
Takamoto Katsuta could not surpass, Elfyn Evans, his teammate, and achieve a third Safari Rally podium. His hopes of doing so took a hit when his car’s hybrid unit stopped working, sapping vital performance. He ended up settling for the fourth position overall, 25.3 seconds back from the Toyota-driving Welshman as the edition’s winner and Rovanpera more than two minutes up the road.
Dani Sordo finished fifth after he overcame a power steering failure in SS16. It was a testing weekend for Hyundai Motorsport, which trailed Toyota by 42 points in the manufacturers’ title race.