Elfyn Evans kept everything on track in FIA WRC win in Safari Rally, ahead of Hyundai pair of Ott Tanak and Thierry Neuville.
Friday –
FIA World Rally Championship (WRC) leader Elfyn Evans led Safari Rally Kenya after a dramatic and attritional Friday leg, as frontrunner Ott Tänak fell foul of mechanical problems late in the day. In true Safari fashion, few crews emerged unscathed from the rally’s first full day, which featured eight brutal gravel speed tests across the Great Rift Valley. Over half the Rally1 field suffered issues – a stark reminder of the rally’s unforgiving nature. Tänak had looked unstoppable early on, storming to four stage wins and opening up a lead of nearly one minute.
But disaster struck in the afternoon when a driveshaft failure left his Hyundai i20 N Rally1 with only rear-wheel drive. The Estonian haemorrhaged time across the final two tests, dropping to third overall with an overnight deficit of 55.4sec. That opened the door for Toyota GAZOO Racing’s Evans, who steadily climbed the order in his GR Yaris Rally1 with a clean and consistent performance – despite not setting a single fastest time.
The Welshman, who arrived in Kenya with a 28-point championship lead, ended the day with a slender buffer over team-mate Kalle Rovanperä – a rear-right tyre deflation near the finish of the final stage being his only notable scare. Rovanperä was just 7.7sec adrift in second and might have been leading himself but for a spin on a particularly narrow section of the Kedong stage, which saw him lose time trying to get his car pointed in the right direction. Aside from that mishap, the Finn also enjoyed a relatively drama-free day.
Tänak wasn’t the only Hyundai driver to hit trouble. Reigning champion Thierry Neuville’s day began with a one-minute penalty after his i20 N was delayed leaving service due to a gearbox change. More issues followed – including a jump start (+10sec), a debeaded tyre, and a further 50sec penalty for lateness to SS8 after another technical glitch. Despite the setbacks, Neuville reached the overnight halt in fourth, 36.0sec behind Tänak.
Adrien Fourmaux, who had rejoined under restart rules following an electrical issue on Thursday, retired again when a front-right steering arm broke on SS7. The Frenchman had been nursing a puncture and drove almost 10 kilometres with the flailing tyre before the suspension finally gave way. It wasn’t a smooth ride for Toyota’s Takamoto Katsuta either. Tyre damage early in the day put him out of contention, and a similar issue in the Geothermal test cost more time. He ended Friday fifth overall, more than four minutes off the lead.
Just behind was team-mate Sami Pajari, also delayed by tyre woes, while seventh-placed Josh McErlean led M-Sport Ford’s charge after an eventful afternoon. The Irishman battled through problems that included a squashed exhaust and a boot floor punctured by a loose spare wheel. WRC2 leader Kajetan Kajetanowicz sat eighth overall after seizing the top spot from Oliver Solberg, who got stuck in a deep section of fesh-fesh on SS7. The Pole, driving a Toyota GR Yaris Rally2 for the first time, held a narrow advantage over category rivals Gus Greensmith and Jan Solans.
Saturday –
Elfyn Evans is poised to extend his FIA World Rally Championship (WRC) lead after surviving a chaotic Saturday at Safari Rally Kenya, ending the penultimate leg with a hefty 1min 57.4sec advantage. Fortune favoured the Welshman once again as Africa’s legendary endurance test served up another brutal helping of carnage. From bone-dry dust bowls to rain-soaked mudbaths, the day showcased the full spectrum of Safari extremes – and Evans was one of the few who stayed in tune.
He started Saturday with a slender 7.7sec buffer but immediately laid down a marker on the Sleeping Warrior opener. Even with rear tyre damage near the end of the 26.97-kilometre test, he still extended his lead by 8.2sec over Toyota GAZOO Racing team-mate Kalle Rovanperä. Rovanperä’s response unravelled swiftly. A front-right tyre deflation five kilometres from the end of Elmenteita cost him 21.1sec, and worse followed at Soysambu, where a front-left puncture dropped him another 55.5sec. By midday service, his deficit to Evans had ballooned to 1min 32.5sec.
Then came the rain. Conditions deteriorated on the repeated afternoon loop, and although Rovanperä clawed back 11.7sec from Evans on a sodden second pass of Sleeping Warrior, he arrived at the finish with a damaged rear suspension arm. A makeshift roadside fix involving a ratchet strap kept him going, but with no choice but to back off through the final two stages, he dropped almost five minutes and slipped to fifth overall behind Ott Tänak, Thierry Neuville and Takamoto Katsuta. Evans, who arrived in Kenya holding a 28-point championship lead, is now within touching distance of his first Safari Rally victory – and a significantly bolstered title advantage, should he make it through Sunday unscathed.
That’s no foregone conclusion. His Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 sustained front-right damage after a moment in the final stage – a timely reminder of how the event can bite back. The drama didn’t stop with Rovanperä. In classic Safari fashion, nearly every Rally1 frontrunner faced some form of adversity. Second-placed Tänak lost time with a deflated tyre early on, then grappled with visibility issues when the windscreen of his Hyundai i20 N Rally1 fogged up on SS12. Even so, he carries a 2min 36.0sec cushion over team-mate Neuville into Sunday’s five-stage finale. Neuville’s day was anything but straightforward. Two punctures, a misted windscreen, and a misfiring engine late in the day all combined to slow his charge.
But he still gained a position on the final test when Katsuta was forced to stop and change a wheel – his third deflation of the day. The Japanese driver has also been battling illness, making his pair of stage wins even more impressive. Sami Pajari brought his Toyota home in a lonely sixth overall, 54.4sec behind Rovanperä but more than four minutes ahead of Grégoire Munster’s Ford Puma Rally1. Munster began the day in 11th and even bagged a stage win on SS15. Gus Greensmith stole the WRC2 lead from Jan Solans on the day’s final stage, snatching an overall eighth place in the process. Just 5.8sec separate the pair going into Sunday, where five stages totalling almost 66km lie in wait.
Sunday –
Elfyn Evans tamed the wilds of Safari Rally Kenya to claim a landmark victory on Sunday and tighten his grip on the FIA World Rally Championship (WRC) title race. The Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 driver, co-driven by Scott Martin, beat Hyundai rival Ott Tänak by 1min 9.9sec to secure his second win of the season. In doing so, he opened up the largest championship lead ever recorded after three rounds of a WRC campaign.
Evans arrived in Africa riding a wave of momentum following victory in Sweden and a runner-up finish at Rallye Monte-Carlo. Now, with a commanding 36-point advantage at the top of the drivers’ standings, the Welshman has carved out clear daylight between himself and his title rivals after the third of 14 rounds. His latest success was built across a punishing four-day route that began in Nairobi on Thursday and ventured deep into Kenya’s unforgiving Great Rift Valley. And as ever, the Safari’s raw spectacle drew huge crowds – with police estimating over 250,000 fans lined the stages this year, up from 188,000 in 2024.
Evans moved into the lead late on Friday when early pacesetter Tänak was delayed by a broken driveshaft on his Hyundai i20 N Rally1 – and from there, he never looked back. It was far from a trouble-free run, however. He overcame tyre deflations and spins earlier in the rally, then carefully managed an electrical issue throughout Sunday’s final leg. Tänak chipped away at the deficit across the closing stages, but Evans held firm to become only the third British driver to win the Safari – joining legends Colin McRae and Richard Burns.
Tänak was joined on the podium by team-mate and reigning world champion Thierry Neuville, who finished 2min 22.1sec behind after a drama-filled weekend. The Belgian’s troubles began on Friday with a one-minute time penalty after a delayed gearbox change, followed by further penalties for a jump start and a late arrival as he worked to repair damage to his car’s cooling package on Saturday. Despite the setbacks, Hyundai’s double podium marked its best-ever result on the Safari. In contrast – despite Evans’ victory – this was the first edition of the rally in which Toyota GAZOO Racing failed to place more than one car on the podium.
A Toyota 1-2 had looked likely until two-time world champion Kalle Rovanperä plummeted from second to fifth on Saturday afternoon with rear suspension damage. His misfortune continued into Sunday, when he retired due to an electrical issue – leaving him trailing team-mate Evans by 57 points in the championship fight. Takamoto Katsuta was on course for a fourth-place finish after battling through multiple punctures and a bout of heat exhaustion, but damage sustained during a roll on the Wolf Power Stage prevented him from reaching the finish and promoted fellow Toyota driver Sami Pajari.
Meanwhile, Grégoire Munster overcame a gearbox problem to finish fifth in his M-Sport Ford Puma Rally1. Gus Greensmith won WRC2, finishing more than three minutes ahead of Jan Solans after the Spaniard rolled on SS18. Gentleman driver Jourdan Serderidis placed eighth overall in another Puma, with Paraguay’s Fabrizio Zaldivar completing the WRC2 podium in ninth as Josh McErlean rounded out the top 10.
Result: https://www.wrc.com/en/events/wrc-safari-rally-kenya-2025/wrc-rally-kenya-2025-results
[The story is as per press release]
