Another rough and undulating passage appears at 13.1 km. The next junction turn makes the road smaller but still similarly fast. A very fast and wide road is then joined at 7.5 km, becoming soon narrower and tighter in the forest.ДЄ junction turn at 9.7 km takes the stage вЂ“ via a rougher and twistier passage вЂ“ to a fast, smooth and medium wide savanna section. The junction turn to a farm at 6.1 km is different from last year, and it brings the pace down for a while. The width of the road changes from narrow to medium wide and again narrow, the surface varying constantly from smooth to rough, hard to soft, pace being mostly very fast but occasionally slower on corners and bumps. Last year Sebastien Ogier almost went off here, but thanks to the new start location it wonвЂ™t be as fast now. The start is on a wide and smooth road but turns right away onto a smaller road.

These changes likely make the stage a bit slower, but probably still again the fastest of the rally. In addition we can see that the start location has been moved forwards. ThereвЂ™s two changes on the route, вЂњto avoid some irreparable rain damage, deepening dust pans and an area or two with slight safety concernsвЂќ, according to the Rally Guide. SS4+7 Kedong is the longest stage of the rally at 31 km, driven almost like in 2021 when it was the fastest stage of the rally with 116 km/h of average speed. ThereвЂ™s also some nicely flowing long tight corners, something that is atypical to the rally. In terms of normal rallying, thereвЂ™s four junction turns вЂ“В two at the beginning, one in the middle and a particularly tight one at the end.

In typical Safari style, this stage has some very fast and very slow sections and you need to recognize them to survive through with a great time. At best it looks a bit like Rally Mexico or Acropolis, and I think we could see some road cleaning happening on this stage. The road surface gets better throughout the stage until the very end. The width and condition of the road varies, but mostly thereвЂ™s a very hard base with loose gravel on top and big stones on the side. Only the very beginning is on an off-road track. In contrast to most other Safari stages of this decade, itвЂ™s almost completely driven on actual gravel roads. SS3+6 Geothermal is a new stage for this year. When the stage rejoins last yearвЂ™s route, itвЂ™s similar to the beginning вЂ“ angular and smooth, although thereвЂ™s a couple of places where itвЂ™s slower because of road softness. At first itвЂ™s rather straight but from 8.1 km onwards we start seeing quite tight corners, which is not that usual in this rally. The route deviates from last yearвЂ™s one at 6 km first onto an off-road track and then back onto a similar narrow road but now tightly between the bushes and trees. The roads are narrow, smooth and hard вЂ“В not rough or soft вЂ“В but bumpy at times. The beginning of the stage is angular with lots of square turns and straights. Although the title is the same as shakedownвЂ™s, the two stages do not share their routes. This is the stage where Thierry NeuvilleвЂ™s suspension broke last year. SS2+5 Loldia has been extended from last year with an additional part in the middle. Last year we saw Oliver Solberg run into problems already on the shakedown. Towards the end thereвЂ™s an undulating narrow forest section, some jumps and long spectator-friendly bends as well. At first itвЂ™s very angular вЂ“ long straights and flatout passages and tight junction turns вЂ“В although itвЂ™s also quite bumpy, more than most actual stages. The stage itself, Loldia Shakedown, has remained unchanged from last year. In Safari the shakedown is driven exceptionally already on Wednesday morning. We could also expect the rally to be quicker with two of the slowest stages removed and replaced with ones run on actual roads as opposed to off-road tracks. Almost all stages are changed at least a bit from last year. However, this year Safari will likely be the longest rally of the season with 363 stage kilometres. ItвЂ™s still different to all other events with unique terrain and high contrasts of fast and slow sections, although not as wild and long as in the past decades. Safari Rally returned onto WRC last year and is here to stay. Recognizing filming locations from rallying videos Short or Long WRC rallies? Why not have both?

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