March 14 (Reuters) - Toyota's Takamoto Katsuta was heading for his first win in the World Rally Championship after leading Kenya's Safari Rally at the end of a chaotic penultimate leg on Saturday.
The Japanese led Hyundai's Adrien Fourmaux by one minute 25.5 seconds with four stages remaining on Sunday on the southern shores of Lake Naivasha.
Toyota's Sami Pajari was third, but nearly five and a half minutes off the pace after a costly tyre explosion, with Hyundai's Esapekka Lappi fourth on a day that turned the standings upside down.
Toyota had filled the top five positions earlier in the week but Oliver Solberg, nine-times world champion Sebastien Ogier and championship leader Elfyn Evans all hit trouble and dropped out of contention.
Solberg ended the day classified 10th, with Ogier 11th and Evans 12th.
On Friday night Solberg had led Ogier by one second but the Swede, son of Norway's 2003 world champion Petter, retired from the leg along with the Frenchman due to technical issues resulting from the thick mud that caused the alternator to fail and damaged the transmission.
Ogier also lost two minutes in the morning when he had to stop and change a wheel.
Evans damaged his car's rear-right suspension and suffered his first rally leg retirement since 2024. All three were expected to re-start on Sunday to fight for the points available.
Katsuta, meanwhile, had started the day seventh but worked his way up to lead by the afternoon and stayed ahead when the second run through the 31km Sleeping Warrior stage was cancelled for safety reasons due to the conditions.
"These cars are built to withstand a lot, but mud is difficult because it sticks everywhere and can affect the most simple parts, and we’ve seen our rivals’ suffering as well," said Toyota team boss Juha Kankkunen.
"We’ll get those cars repaired and all three guys should have great speed tomorrow."
Hyundai's Thierry Neuville also retired from the leg with three punctures and no spare available.
(Reporting by Alan Baldwin, editing by Ed Osmond)
