Finnish youngster Sami Pajari produced an impressive performance by winning two of the three stages during Friday morning’s loop as the battle for the 2026 Safari Rally Kenya title intensified in Naivasha.
Despite Pajari’s pace, his Toyota Gazoo Racing teammate Oliver Solberg remained in the overall lead, although his advantage from Thursday was trimmed slightly.
Friday’s action began with the cancellation of Camp Moran 2, which had been scheduled as the opening stage of the day. Organisers called off the section due to deteriorating road conditions following the rain-soaked stage that troubled drivers on Thursday.
The morning’s competition instead began with SS4 Loldia 1, where eight-time world champion Sébastien Ogier set the pace. Ogier completed the rocky 18.95km test in 14:18.8, beating Pajari by 2.5 seconds.
Adrien Fourmaux of Hyundai Shell Mobis WRT placed third, followed by Takamoto Katsuta and Jon Armstrong.
Pajari then took control of the morning stages, claiming victory in KenGen Geothermal 1 (13.16km) and Kedong 1 (13.79km), the latter featuring the popular “Miti Mbili” jump, a major attraction for spectators.
At the end of the loop, Solberg maintained his position at the top of the leaderboard with a cumulative time of 58:30.3, leading defending Safari Rally champion Elfyn Evans by 28.8 seconds.
Solberg said his main focus was maintaining a steady pace rather than pushing too hard.
“The lead is roughly the same as it was this morning compared to Elfyn. I’m just trying to keep it around there. Ogier is pushing hard, but that’s okay. This rally can change quickly, so we just have to stay in the fight.”
Evans admitted his morning was not perfect after dealing with minor mechanical concerns.
“It was more straightforward than yesterday but still not easy. We struggled a bit with brake cooling early on, but after that the run was quite clean. I was a bit cautious on the big jumps and rough sections.”
Ogier remained third overall, while Katsuta and Pajari completed Toyota’s top-five lockout after the morning loop.
Katsuta said improved weather conditions helped drivers recover time lost in Thursday’s muddy stages.
“Yesterday was quite difficult for us, but today started much better. The conditions helped and we managed to reduce the gap. The rally is still long, so we just need to keep pushing and avoid mistakes.”
Further down the order, Fourmaux said he enjoyed the dry conditions but remained cautious due to the risk of punctures.
“The feeling in the car was good and the stages were more like a normal gravel rally. But here you always need to balance pushing and avoiding rocks that can cause punctures.”
Ogier also revealed he had suffered a puncture late in the final stage of the morning loop.
“The stages were full of stones so I tried to take a safer approach. Unfortunately we had a puncture in the last kilometres which cost us a few seconds, but there’s still a long way to go.”
Drivers were scheduled to tackle four more stages in the afternoon repeat runs of Kedong, Geothermal, and Loldia, before concluding the day with Mzabibu 2.
With changing weather conditions and punishing terrain still expected across the Rift Valley, the fight for victory at the Safari Rally remains wide open.
