TOYOTA Gazoo Racing World Rally Team made a strong start to Safari Rally Kenya in challenging conditions on Thursday with Oliver Solberg claiming the early advantage ahead of his team-mates.

Dolgellau’s Elfyn Evans trails by 33.3 seconds going into day two.

The 37-year-old said: “It’s been a very demanding start to the rally.

“We kind of expected it would be tough anyway, and then the rain came down and made things even more difficult

“I struggled to see clearly in places with a lot of mud on the windscreen, but it’s still very early in this rally and anything can happen.

“We just have to try to keep using our heads as much as possible, but it will be a tricky balance like always here between pushing and looking after things.”

After completing their reconnaissance of the stages earlier this week, crews are anticipating even more extreme conditions than in previous years on the only African round of the championship.

Heavy rain has contributed to make rougher and more rutted roads, and is forecast to create slippery surfaces throughout the rally.

The pre-event shakedown took place on Thursday morning in dry conditions close to the Naivasha service park, giving teams and drivers a chance to check car systems and settings before the start.

The action then began for real in the afternoon with one of the longest and most demanding stages of the rally, the 24.35 kilometres of Camp Moran, which was made especially difficult by rain and mud.

Solberg stormed to the first stage win of the rally by a margin of exactly 30 seconds over team-mate Elfyn Evans.

The second stage of Mzabibu was shorter – at 8.86 km – and drier. Here, Sébastien Ogier set the fastest time by 0.4s over Sami Pajari with Takamoto Katsuta third. Solberg was fourth, increasing his rally lead to 33.3s over Evans.

Ogier and Katsuta are just over a minute back in third and fourth overall, with Pajari rounding out a top-five lockout for the GR YARIS Rally1.On his first rally driving the GR Yaris Rally2, Gus Greensmith leads the WRC2 category in 10th overall.