Nine-time world champion Sébastien Loeb is among the key new highlights of the sixth leg of the 2022 World Rally Championships, the Safari Rally that will be held in the lakeside town of Naivasha on June 23-26.
The M-Sport Ford dare-devil will mark his first Kenya start since 2002 when he steered a Citroën Xsara to fifth place finish.
The Frenchman will once again be co-driven by Isabelle Galmiche, who also guided him to an overall victory on the pairing’s Ford debut at Rallye Monte-Carlo in January.
He will line up alongside fellow Puma drivers Craig Breen, Gus Greensmith and Adrien Fourmaux.
“I don’t know the current version of the rally, but I have seen some videos of the stages and they are very different - they appear to be rough with very big stones."
“Kenya is quite amazing; I think it’s the rally from which I have the most memories. In 2002, the rally was very different. The longest stage was a stretch of 120km and we all had a helicopter over our cars announcing all the wildlife that we were approaching on the stage,” said Loeb.
“Now it’s very different and it’s more like a typical WRC rally, but the difference for me, compared to Portugal, is that I have no experience of these stages,” he added.
Apart from Loeb’s return, other key new highlights in the sixth leg of the series revolves around the 363.56km route.
A third of the 19 stages to be battled by local and international drivers for honours are new. This includes Friday’s Geothermal and Sunday’s Narasha test drives.
The Geothermal stage climbs over craggy rock lined hills while Narasha rises from the arid floor of the Rift Valley across historic Maasai grazing lands.
Elementaita stage, to be driven twice on Saturday, will be used in the opposite direction as compared to the 2021 edition of the series.
Both Loldia, where the shakedown will be held, and Soysambu have been lengthened. Loldia contains an additional 7km while Soysambu has been stretched by 9km.
The drivers are warned by rally experts to be wary of very rocky sections of the route.
