WRC 2
Kajto capitalises on Solberg heartbreak to lead WRC2 in Kenya
Kajetan Kajetanowicz made the most of a dramatic twist in Friday’s Safari Rally Kenya action to lead WRC2 on his first outing of the 2025 season.
The Polish ace, switching to a Toyota GR Yaris Rally2 after years campaigning Škoda machinery, moved to the top of the leaderboard when early pacesetter Oliver Solberg hit trouble on the second run through Camp Moran.
Solberg, joint WRC2 championship coming into the weekend, had looked untouchable in the morning. He carved out a 40.3sec advantage before disaster struck - beaching his Yaris in a deep bed of fesh-fesh and retiring for the day.
Kajetanowicz, despite nursing a puncture earlier in the leg, kept his cool to pick up the pieces and end the day 10.2sec clear of Gus Greensmith.
“It is exactly as tough or even tougher than we predicted,” said Kajetanowicz. “There are many stones and we had a puncture on one of the stages – fortunately with just seven kilometres to go on this long, over 30-kilometre test.”
Solberg was simply a passenger as his car became buried
© WRC
Greensmith had a tough day at the office, picking up a 10-second time penalty after leaving morning service late. The Briton also lost time when he overshot a corner in SS8 and had to reverse. Without those setbacks, he would have been leading in his Škoda Fabia RS Rally2.
Jan Solans rounded out the provisional podium, 40.3sec off the lead in another Toyota. The Spaniard battled through intermittent power steering issues during the afternoon but still ended the day with a comfortable three-minute buffer over fourth-placed Fabrizio Zaldivar, who dropped time with a wheel change on SS7.
Diego Dominguez incurred 4min 50sec in penalties after stopping to fix a technical issue on the road section before SS8. Even so, he and co-driver Rogelio Peñate completed the top five ahead of Polish driver Daniel Chwist.
Kajetanowicz also led the WRC2 Challenger category, while home hero Carl Tundo topped the standings in the WRC Masters Cup. In WRC3, India’s Naveen Puligilla ended Friday with a hefty buffer over Nikhil Sachania.
