Andrea Lafarja and Germán Maune began their participation in the Safari Rally Kenya competing in the WRC2 Challenger and WRC Masters Cup categories, taking on one of the toughest events on the World Rally Championship calendar.
Thursday featured the first two stages of the rally, where the duo quickly experienced the harsh conditions of the African event. During the 25-kilometre Camp Moran stage, rain made driving particularly difficult. However, in the second and final stage of the day they regained confidence and completed a cleaner run, ending the day in third position in the WRC Masters Cup.
Friday began with the cancellation of the first stage due to heavy rain. Even so, Lafarja and Maune started the day in the best possible way by taking victory in SS4 Loldia within the WRC Masters Cup. Everything was going well until, at the end of the Kengen stage, a wheel stud broke, forcing them to stop to repair it and taking them out of contention for the day, with their focus on continuing on Saturday.
Saturday, considered the toughest day of the rally, saw Lafarja and Maune return to the stages with determination, claiming victory on the Soysambu stage and moving into third position in the WRC Masters Cup at the end of the first loop.
During the afternoon, the duo found a rhythm that allowed them to drive more comfortably while prioritising caution in extremely demanding conditions. With that strategy they managed to win three of the four stages on Saturday and ended the leg provisionally in third position in the WRC Masters Cup.
On the final day, the main objective was simply to finish this demanding rally, and Andrea Lafarja and Germán Maune achieved it, securing third position in the WRC Masters Cup and therefore their first podium of the season.
Andrea Lafarja (DRIVER): “This is not only my dream, but the dream of all Paraguayans. We fought with all our strength and achieved this third place in the WRC Masters Cup. Today Paraguay has a woman on a WRC podium for the first time in history. I’m very happy and emotional, and I want to thank everyone who helped me get here”.
German Maune (CODRIVER): “We’re very happy to have achieved our first podium in our first event of the season, especially in such a tough and demanding rally. This gives us confidence for the next rallies, where we will once again give our all”.
Teo Martín (TEAM MANAGER): ”Andrea and Germán delivered a fantastic performance, securing a historic podium in the WRC Masters Cup and demonstrating great adaptability in very challenging conditions. Starting the season with two podiums in a rally of this caliber is a very positive result, giving us strong motivation and confidence to tackle the upcoming championship events”.
