Defending champion Sebastian Ogier out of 2024 Safari Rally Kenya

Sebastien Ogier, the defending Safari Rally champion and an eight-time world champion, is set to miss this year's Safari Rally edition set to be held in Naivasha between Thursday, March 28 - Sunday, March 31.

The defending champion was conspicuously absent from the team which was unveiled by Toyota to take part in the mouthwatering competition.

According to the roaster released by Toyota, their trio for Safari Rally features double world champion Kalle Rovanpera, Elfyn Evans, and Takamoto Katsuta.

Sebastien was expected to defend his title which he claimed after managing to hold off Rovanpera in a thrilling finale last year.

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The French eight-time world champion held a narrow 13.6-second advantage over Rovanpera going into the final three stages of the event and saw that margin cut to under ten seconds going into the concluding 10.53-kilometre Hell's Gate route at Lake Naivasha.

Despite Sebastien's absence, Rovanpera is expected to light up the competition and turn around his season. His 2024 season has been clouded with setbacks after he crashed out of the lead, landing his Yaris in a snowbank and damaging the radiator in Sweden.

Although he appeared frustrated by the results, the Finn was impressed by the pace of his car.

“The car was fast enough to win,” Rovanpera stated.

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“We worked with the car before the event and it was really good. It’s positive that we could have been in the fight, but I just couldn’t bring everything together," he added.

But with Safari Rally on sight, Rovanpera is expected to make a comeback.

This year’s edition will be Rovanpera’s fourth appearance since Safari's comeback to the WRC calendar in 2021. 

The Finn has already tasted victory once, in 2022, when he led a historic Toyota 1-2-3-4 sweep ahead of Elfyn by 52.8 seconds.  Katsuta completed the podium ahead of Ogier.

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To make the competition a success, Sports Cabinet Secretary Ababu Namwamba called on motorsport enthusiasts to be on the lookout for a distinctly Kenyan-flavored 2024 Safari Rally.

The CS noted that Kenya is keen to support local drivers to also dominate the race.

“We do not want to have a rally that is foreigners-dominated where we have the foreign drivers flying in, spend three days with us, and then fly out and that is the end of it. We want to get back to those days when Kenyan drivers competed well,” he stated.

Ababu noted that Kenya was exploring possibilities of launching training schools for upcoming rally drivers.

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