After WRC Esports’ Rally Italia Sardinia cutting controversy, organisers looked forward to getting back to business on Safari Rally Kenya. The same applied to championship leader Sami-Joe Abi Nakhle, who was eager to continue his imperious form after taking five wins in a row.
Despite a non-appearance in Sardinia, Sami-Joe’s closest rival in 2022 continued to be Japanese rookie Kazuho Iwata (Kazunokota), but his failure to again appear on Rally Kenya has almost conclusively turned the tide of the points championship towards the Lebanese 2020 WRC Esports Grand Final winner.
Greeting the drivers for the tenth round of the series (nine if you discount Sardinia), were three stages, totalling 25km. The initial test was the Super Special Stage at Kasarani, with further gravel runs through Sayabei and Ntulele.
Sami-Joe emerged as class of the field yet again, with his biggest rival from 2021, Lohann Blanc (Nexl), equalling his best result of the season in second place. The battle for the final place on the rostrum was the main talking point from Rally Kenya, however, with all those from third to ninth places separated by just 3.7s.
Third place went to Triton Racing’s Michał Król (Katana), the young Pole taking his first ever WRC Esports podium position and a sign of his progression this season.
With Iwata seemingly out of the running, Blanc, John Bebnowicz-Harris (Izamusing) and Zeniou Panagiotis (TNG_Zeniou) are all closing in on second place in the championship standings. The top eight drivers in the series qualify for the 2022 WRC Esports World Finals, and ominously for the rest of the competitors, Sami-Joe has already booked his place with three rounds to spare.
Race Clutch hold a commanding lead in the Teams standings and now look unbeatable thanks to consistent scoring from Blanc and Bebnowicz-Harris.
The fast gravel roads of Rally Estonia are up next for the WRC Esports drivers, between the 8th and 11th of July. The competition is open to anyone with a copy of WRC10 on Xbox, PlayStation or PC.
WRC ESPORTS 2022, ROUND 10 RESULTS
- TM_Sami-Joe
- RC LDLC OL Nexl
- Triton Katana
- RC Izamusing
- TNG_Zeniou
- TENTFS_MachineLV
- RC Krim
- TR-Raphi
- VBR Hujda
- VBR Siiwu
