Ott Tanak has taken the overnight lead at the World Rally Championships in Naivasha, Kenya.
The Estonian, driving his Hyundai i20 Rally1 has opened a 2.4 seconds ahead of the Toyota GR Yaris of Japan’s Takamoto Katsuta.
Luxemburg’s Gregoire Munster (Ford Puma Rally1) was a mere two-tenths of a second further behind in third.
Rally Sweden champion Elfyn Evans of Toyota was best on the opening Super Special Kasarani (4.75km) with Belgium’s Thierry Neuville, who went head to head with the Welshman, finishing 1.5s behind and tying with team mate and former winner Kalle Rovanpera with Tanak some 0.7s further behind
Adrien Fourmaux (Hyundai) and Grégoire Munster (M-Sport Ford) shared fifth place followed by McErlean
In the WRC 2, it was an all-Kenyan affair to round up the top 20 overall as Karan Patel, Jeremiah Wahome, Hamza Anwar and Carl Tundo all separated by less than seven seconds respectively.
Patel once again led the charge for Kenya in SS2, placing eighth in the WRC 2 category
Young Kenyan star Tinashe Gatimu was also pleased with how her first day turned out in the National Class.