Greensmith kicked off his 2024 campaign at this third round of the FIA World Rally Championship and, although he wasn’t feeling fighting fit, things couldn’t have gone much better for the Briton.

Having opened up a slender advantage early on Friday, a weight was lifted from Greensmith’s shoulders when his nearest challenger Oliver Solberg - driving a similar Toksport Škoda Fabia RS Rally2 - stopped to change a wheel in SS3.

With Solberg dropping back and the rest of the field not posing any major threat, Greensmith could afford to manage his risk level on the rugged African stages. After ending the day 3m 23.0s clear of second-placed Kajetan Kajetanicz, he was simply looking forward to getting some rest.

“This afternoon has been the toughest afternoon I've ever had in rallying,” Greensmith said. “I'm absolutely exhausted. I need a bed – and soon!”

Kajetanowicz dropped time in the morning’s final stage when sand found its way into his Škoda’s air intake, sapping valuable power. Despite that, he finished 14.5s clear of Solberg while Safari debutant Nicolas Ciamin brought his Hyundai i20 N Rally2 home 11.9s further back in fourth.

Charles Munster, brother of Rally1 driver Grégoire, was fifth ahead of FIA Junior WRC regular Diego Dominguez, who completed the final 30km of the day without power steering on his Citroën C3 Rally2.

Kajetanowicz headed the WRC2 Challenger leaderboard while local driver Carl Tundo topped the WRC Masters Cup timesheets despite his Ford Fiesta R5 encountering tyre, brake and suspension troubles.