NAIVASHA, Kenya, March 23- Elfyn Evans has become the first British driver to win the WRC Safari Rally – Kenya in 23 years on Sunday.
And it was a double celebration for the Welshman, navigated by Scott Martin, after signing off his huge victory in the most emphatic of fashions— by taking the closing Wolf Power Stage at Hell’s Gate for an additional five WRC points.
Before his final flourish, the Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT star had kept it safe to all but confirm his second successive win in the third round of this year’s championship in the East African savannah.
The championship leader, who is the son of 1996 British Rally Champion and former WRC driver Gwyndaf Evans, thus added to his Rally Sweden victory last year.
He becomes the first Briton to win the historic WRC Safari Rally since the late Collin McRae and Nicky Grist did it in 2002 in a Ford Focus RS WRC 02.
Opening the day with a 1:54.4 minutes lead, the championship leader steered his GR Yaris Rally1 clear of trouble to bag the coveted Safari title after a largely composed performance over the weekend.
Evans achieved the feat with four stage wins and had his campaign effectively sewn up when hard charging Estonian Tanak hit trouble on Friday.
And in living up to its brutal reputation to the last, double world champion and two-time Safari Rally winner, Gazoo Racing’s Kalle Rovanpera was forced to retire on Sunday morning.
And while Toyota celebrated a fifth successive Safari Rally crown— it was the best ever performance for Hyundai Shell Mobis WRT in Kenya.
Behind Evans — Tanak and reigning world champion Thierry Neuville of Belgium completed the WRC podium in that order— driving last year’s i20s. Tanak finished 1:09.9 minutes behind the winner, with Neuville over three and a half minutes adrift.
The Welsh winner ascended to the top of the leaderboard in Stage 9- Kengen Geothermal 2— during Day 2’s evening loop when Tanak blew his 46.1 second lead due to car trouble.
And as rivals landed in all sort of issues, Evans steadily built his lead on Saturday by winning two of the five stages on the day.
That left him with the task of scaling back on the final day to ascend to the middle step of the podium.
Day 1 leader and 2019 world champion Tanak celebrated his best ever Safari finish, improving from the third place in 2021 when the Safari made its comeback to the WRC.
Overall, he won the most stages, seven— in his best performance of the season.
And after four previous attempts, Neuville finally landed on the Safari Rally top three, after storming up from eighth on Friday, the day he won his only stage of the rally to power to the podium.
Toyota’s Japanese ace, Takamoto Katsuta and his Irish partner Aaron Johnston ended just outside the podium in fourth ahead of Finnish Safari Rally debutant and teammate, Sami Pajari/Marko Jarveoja.
Katsuta who alongside Neuville suffered from food poisoning on Friday, showed his prowess by winning four stages in his bid to attack for the podium.
Luxembourg driver Gregoire Munster brought the first Ford M-Sport Puma home in seventh.
Rovanpera, who won three stages in his bid for a third WRC Safari Rally title, was forced to retire on the first stage of Sunday- CS 17 Oresengoni 1 due to an auxiliary belt issue.
It was a British double in the Safari Rally when Gus Greensmith capitalized on his chief rival Oliver Solberg’s misfortunes to win the WRC2 title.
Greensmith, piloting a Skoda Fabia RS finished the Safari Rally in seventh overall, with Spaniard Jans Solans (GR Yaris/eighth) and Italy’s Fabrizio Zaldivar (Fabia RS/eighth) rounding off the top three in the second-tier category.
Veteran Carl ‘Flash’ Tundo— a five-time winner of this event when it was not part of the WRC was the first Kenyan in 15th overall in his Ford Fiesta Rally 2.
2025 WRC SAFARI RALLY LEADING RESULTS
1. #33 Elfyn Evans – Scott Martin (Toyota GR Yaris Rally1) 4:20:03.8
2.#8 Ott Tänak – Martin Järveoja (Hyundai i20 N Rally1) 4:21:13.7
3.#1 Thierry Neuville – Wydaeghe M. (Hyundai i20 N Rally1) 4:23:35.8
4. #5 Sami Pajari – Marko Salminen (Toyota GR Yaris Rally1) 4:27:22.5
5. #18 TAKAMOTO Katsuta – Johnston A. (Toyota GR Yaris Rally1) 4:28:19.5
6. #13 Grégoire Munster – Louka Louis (Ford Puma Rally1) 4:31:39.1
Article by Samson Ateka- Safari Rally Kenya Media team