Rising Finnish star, Sami Pajari demonstrated his growing maturity by winning two of the three stages of Friday’s morning run as the gloves finally came off in the race for the WRC Safari Rally 2026 Kenya title.
His Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT teammate, Oliver Solberg held on to the overall lead but saw his advantage from Thursday cut by 5 seconds.
The day started with the cancellation of the scheduled opening section of the day, Camp Moran 2, a re-run of the first competitive stage of the rally that brought untold suffering to the drivers on Thursday afternoon.
Toyota super star, Sebastien Ogier won the opening SS4 Loldia 1 stage after breezing the rocky 18.95km section in 14:18.8 minutes, 2.5 seconds faster than Pajari.
Hyundai Shell Mobis driver, Adrien Fourmaux, who also had a fine morning was third ahead of Toyota’s Takamoto Katsuta and M-Sport Ford Puma Jon Armstrong.
Pajari then took over, sweeping the section wins in the 13.16km KenGen Geothermal 1 and the 13.79km Kedong 1, where the famous ‘Miti Mbili’ jump was quite the attraction.
That left Solberg holding on to the overall lead in a cumulative time of 58:30.3, 28.8 seconds ahead of last year’s Safari Rally champion and WRC championship leader, Elyfn Evans.
“Ah, well, the lead is approximately the same as this morning to Elfyn, so I’m just trying to keep it around the same and yeah, Ogier is pushing hard, but he can push hard, it’s okay, you know tomorrow and this afternoon could be a different rally again, you know, so you just got to be there and then see what happens,” Solberg who won the opening WRC Rallye Monaco in January remarked after his run.
Evans noted, “We didn’t have the best run through there, struggling a bit with the break cooling a little bit. So, uh, that that wasn’t ideal.
“But yeah, after that, it was a clean enough run. Maybe a bit conservative in some of the big jumps and on the rough places, but other than that, it’s been okay.”
Ogier is still third with Katsuta and Pajari rounding off the Toyota GR WRT top-five shut out.
The cars will wrap Day 2 with four more sections, repeat runs of Kedong, Geothermal and Loldia before the competitors wrap up with Mzabibu 2, the second stage from Thursday.
On a sunny morning in Naivasha, Nakuru County, the race for the coveted WRC Safari Rally Kenya 2026 title has started boiling up.
The day started with the news that the back-breaking Camp Moran 2 section had been cancelled due to ‘deteroriating road conditions’ following Thursday’s mud-bath opening stage which gave the drivers a rude introduction to the Safari Rally.
Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT rising star, Sami Pajari was the best performer of the opening three stages of Day 2.
After coming second to record 10-time world champion and TGR teammate Seb Ogier in the opening run SS4 Loldia 1, the Finnish driver turned on the pace to win the next two, KenGen Geothermal 1 and Kedong 1.
A happier group of drivers shared their thoughts on the opening stages of Day 2 after coming in for service.
Elfyn EVANS- TGR WRT/2nd Overall
Yeah, a bit more, more straightforward than what we had yesterday, that’s sure, but still not not easy. Um, a bit of mixed conditions in the in the first one this morning. We didn’t have the best run through there, struggling a bit with the with the with the break cooling a little bit. So, uh, that that wasn’t ideal. But yeah, after that, it was a clean enough run. Maybe a bit conservative in some of the big jumps and on the rough places, but other than that, it’s been okay.
Takamoto KATSUTA- TGR WRT/4th Overall
Uh, yeah, obviously, yesterday was quite a bad day, but today started well, I’d say, but we still could be worse.
Luckily the (sunny) condition a bit helped us to, you know, decrease the gap. I mean, it could be really disaster for us, competing without a pace note in the first day.
So yeah, we are still in a let’s say possible fight for the victory and podium, so it’s a long way to go, so just to keep driving through without problems. And this morning I was like I said, very let’s say steady and not really pushing, but still time is not too bad and getting.
Getting better and better, of course, condition-wise, but overall, feeling in the car is good. So yeah, I think I think, uh, tomorrow anyway, and this afternoon, let’s see the condition and weather, but if it rains again, 10 seconds or even one minute is almost nothing.
So, uh, just try to stay as close as possible until Sunday.
This is my plan without any mistakes and problems, then if I have a fight in the Sunday, I wish. It’s a difficult leg to stage, is it?
Oliver SOLBERG- TGR WRT/Overall Leader
We have just been trying to be clean with the tires, not get into any trouble with the car or the tires and just try to keep them at the same level as Elfyn really. I mean, the guys behind are pushing very, very hard.
So I’m just trying to do my best really, and and see what happens, you know, it’s so long still, so I’m just trying to to be calm.
The speed is okay, but but the feeling is quite good too, but for sure it’s many places, especially today, you know the stages are are are so tricky and in this car it’s so much faster compared to last year.
So it’s still a little bit to learn, of course, and especially over like the bumps and jumps and it’s very different, but for me it’s mainly just a lot of rocks out there.
I don’t feel comfortable enough to attack as hard as I could.
Ah, well, the lead is approximately the same as this morning to Elfyn, so I’m just trying to keep it around the same and yeah, Ogier is pushing hard, but he can push hard, it’s okay, you know tomorrow and this afternoon could be a different rally again, you know, so you just got to be there and then see what happens.
Adrien FOURMAUX- Hyundai Shell Mobis WRT/7th Overall
We had a strong morning. The feeling was good inside the car. We I enjoyed it, but the conditions were really dry, I would say. So, it was more like, I would say, normal gravel events, not like a big thunderstorm in the stages, so actually it was quite nice to to be on the fight.
I just want to stay as close as possible from the leaders, or at least we know tomorrow things can happen.
I tried it this morning. I was pushing to be fair, but the risk is always the same. You can push a little bit more, but sometimes I also try to avoid the rocks, make sure I don’t get any punctures because this is where you lose even more time, so it’s always like a balance between pushing and risking the tire puncture, so it’s a balance.
Sebastian OGIER- TGR WRT/3rd Overall
Uh, the next two stages are so full of stones that I tried to a little bit safer approach because I think it’s more the key here to stay until the end without too much trouble.
We picked up a puncture in the last two kilometers of the last stage and cost us a couple of seconds obviously, but uh yeah, we are here. Still a very long way to go. Let’s see what the weather brings this afternoon.
Let’s hope it’s not the similar scenario as yesterday. If rain is not coming, hopefully.
