MOTORSPORT
Damien Smith
RACING LINES
WORLD’S SMALLEST VIOLIN
The right barcode gives you privileged access on the Safari Rally
Portland Formula E race sprung into life eventually
Bin liners to plug a gap to keep the dust out? Max Verstappen wouldn’t know where to start. Happily, such Heath Robinson thinking on your feet remains part and parcel of life in the World Rally Championship, as Sébastien Ogier’s quick-witted actions showed on a wild (in more ways than one) final morning on the Safari Rally.
The eight-time world champion was bidding for his third rally win in five, and his second on the great Kenyan epic, when he ran wide in the perilous fesh-fesh sand and snagged a tree. The impact ripped the whole tailgate out of his Toyota GR Yaris – yet Ogier and co-driver Vincent Landais not only soldiered on, but they even won the stage. Then, in an effort to keep some of the thick dust out of the cockpit, they used said bin liners (plus balaclavas) to plug the hole as best they could. The WRC is full of clever tech. But at heart it remains a gritty, dirty sport (in the best sense) that rewards ingenuity and an absolute drive to never give up. No wonder Ogier danced a jig at the finish.