Recently a guest on the AUTOhebdo show’s interview program, Adrien fourmaux He wanted to return to the podium as soon as possible, and he has now done so, with a second place at the Safari Rally alongside his co-driver Takamoto Katsuta, behind Takamoto Katsuta, who won for the first time in his career. WRC.
A relief for the Seclin native, who, like many of his opponents, experienced a rollercoaster of emotions during the four days of this third round. rally of the 2026 WRC season. While he was ahead of the eventual winner on Saturday morning, some new problems and punctures relegated him to second place in the final.
“I feel relieved after four very difficult days to be on the podium. As I said after Thursday, the Safari Rally is a battle that goes all the way to the finish line. This really shows that we never gave up, even though we were making up a lot of time on Friday. And on Saturday morning, we had more problems, we lost time, we were ahead of Taka, and now it hurts to see him win. But at the same time, we knew that everyone was going to have problems on this rally; the goal was simply to have fewer than the others.”
In addition to his first podium finish of the season, Adrien Fourmaux offered Hyundai their first podium finish in what has so far been a very difficult 2026 season. While the Safari Rally was obviously a fight for survival for everyone involved, the final result is of paramount importance for a manufacturer that must continue working to close the gap on Toyota, the dominant force in the championship.
“We can be happy with our work. Thank you and congratulations to the team. It was a significant effort. The mechanics did an incredible job, especially on Saturday at midday. Thank you to them, it was a great team effort. We keep going. This is our first podium, and I hope it will be a precursor to further successes. It was important for the team to get on the podium, which we had missed in the last two rallies, which wasn’t very positive. I hope it will continue in Croatia.”
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