FILE PHOTO: Rallying - World Rally Championship - Safari Rally Kenya, Nairobi, Kenya - June 23, 2022 - French Toyota driver Sebastien Ogier and co-driver Benjamin Veillas in action during side-by-side super special racing stage at Kasarani. REUTERS/Monicah Mwangi/File Photo
(Reuters) -France's Sebastien Ogier won Kenya's Safari Rally on Sunday as Toyota swept the top four places for the second year in a row in the most gruelling event on the calendar.
The eight-times world champion, now racing part-time, beat championship leader Kalle Rovanpera of Finland by 6.7 seconds with Welshman Elfyn Evans a distant third and Japan's Takamoto Katsuta fourth.
The win was Ogier's third from five starts so far this season but he had to fight hard for it after his overnight lead of 16.7 seconds was halved by reigning champion Rovanpera on the final day's opening stage.
Ogier then hit a tree in the next stage, with the impact ripping off the rear wing and tailgate of his Toyota Yaris, but still went fastest and kept the dust out with a bin bag until reaching the service area.
He then cracked his windscreen on the final stage after a dust-choked penultimate run left him 9.2 seconds clear of Rovanpera.
"Unbelievable...even on the Power Stage I got a stone on the windscreen," he said. "We had a lot of issues to face but it could have been a more comfortable rally for us in terms of pace. A lot of misfortune but we brought it home."
Rovanpera extended his championship lead over Hyundai's Thierry Neuville to 37 points after seven of 13 rounds, with the Belgian finishing eighth but bagging some precious bonus points with the fastest time in the final Power Stage.
"You always want to fight for the win but we did our best starting first car on the road," he said. "Good points for the season anyway."
Spaniard Dani Sordo finished fifth as the best of the rest for Hyundai, now 42 points behind Toyota in the manufacturers' standings.
"We didn't have the speed that we wanted. It was a really bad weekend for us and it's clear we need to work on this type of surface," he said.
The next round of the world championship is in Estonia on July 20-23.
(Reporting by Alan Baldwin in London, editing by Christian Radnedge)
