Munster’s magic as Kajto falters in WRC2

The 24-year-old is starting his first-ever Safari and ended the six-stage opening leg 26.4sec clear of Polish rival Kajetan Kajetanowicz, winner here in 2022.

Munster took his time to get bedded into the unique African terrain but when Kajetanowicz suffered a tyre delamination and dropped almost 40sec in Kedong 1, the Luxembourger was elevated to first in the premier support category.

His Fiesta Rally2 held its own against Kajetanowicz’s Škoda Fabia Rally2 Evo across the repeated afternoon loop and he reached the overnight halt in Naivasha feeling happy with his progress.

“This one was really tricky, so sandy and so deep,” Munster said at the finish of Kedong 2. “The car was crashing through quite a lot but I think we managed exactly as we needed to in this kind of stage. It's rough, I am glad this first day is over.”

Experienced Czech Martin Prokop made it two Fords in the top three, successfully fending off Armin Kremer’s challenge until the German hit trouble in the final test.

Dropping around six minutes, Kremer slipped to fifth in the category behind Carl Tundo, who is eager to achieve a top-three result on home soil. Daniel Chwist, driving a Fabia RS, completed the top six.