Record-setting WRC points lead for Evans after Safari Rally Kenya win

Elfyn Evans mastered Safari Rally Kenya to claim a landmark victory in the FIA World Rally Championship’s toughest event on Sunday and tighten his grip on the WRC title race.

The Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 driver, co-driven by Scott Martin, headed home Hyundai’s Ott Tanak by 1m9.9s to earn 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 the snow of Sweden last month and a runner-up finish at the season-opening Monte Carlo Rally. Now, with a commanding 36-point advantage in the WRC drivers’ standings, the Welshman has carved out clear daylight between himself and his title rivals after the third of 14 rounds.

Toyota’s Elfyn Evans has built a commanding WRC points lead after his second win in the opening three rallies. Jaanus Ree/Red Bull Content Pool

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, with grueling stages featuring tire- and suspension-killing ruts and rocks, deep fesh-fesh dust and – defining Saturday’s penultimate leg – heavy rain and sucking mud.

Evans moved into the lead late on Friday when early pacesetter Tanak 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. Evans overcame tire deflations and spins earlier in the rally, then carefully managed an electrical issue throughout Sunday’s final leg. Tanak 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 WRC legends, the late Colin McRae (1997, 1999 and 2002) and Richard Burns (1998 and 2000). It was Toyota’s 13th Safari Rally win and its fifth straight victory since the event returned to the WRC in 2021.

“An amazing rally, I have to say,” said an elated Evans. “Huge well done to the team – they did an amazing job, and I’m proud to be a very small part of Toyota’s history on this incredible rally.”

Tanak was joined on the podium by his Hyundai teammate and reigning WRC champ Thierry Neuville, who finished 2m22.1s 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 – and 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.

(Ott Tanak here. Caption: M-Sport Ford’s Gregoire Munster finished sixth overall in a bitter-sweet weekend for the Luxembourg driver. )

Ott Tanak led Hyundai’s first Safari double podium, breaking Toyota’s near-total grip on the African classic. Getty Images

A Toyota 1-2 had looked likely until two-time world champion Kalle Rovanpera plummeted from second to fifth on Saturday afternoon with rear suspension damage. The Finn’s misfortune continued into Sunday, when he retired his GR Yaris due to an electrical issue, leaving him trailing teammate 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 a roll on the rally-closing, bonus points-paying Wolf Power Stage dropped him to fifth behind fellow Toyota driver Sami Pajari. It was Pajari’s best result since being promoted to a full-time factory Toyota Rally1 drive for 2025.

Best of the M-Sport Ford drivers, Gregoire Munster overcame a gearbox problem to finish sixth in his Puma Rally1. It was a bitter-sweet weekend for the Luxembourg driver, who earned his second WRC fastest stage time, but lost his grandfather the day before Thursday’s rally start.

M-Sport Ford privateer Jordan Serderidis kept out of trouble to post ninth overall, albeit almost 29 minutes out of the top spot, while factory rookie Josh McErlean lost a half hour when a steering arm broke and he stopped to change it mid-stage – leaving him just outside the points in 11th overall.

M-Sport Ford’s Gregoire Munster finished sixth overall in a bitter-sweet weekend for the Luxembourg driver.

In WRC2, the second tier of international rallying, Gus Greensmith won by 3m15s on his first point-scoring outing of the 2025 season, taking advantage of a costly final-day error from closest class rival Jan Solans.

Separated by just 5.8s heading into Sunday’s five-stage closing leg, Greensmith and Solans were locked in a tense showdown – the Brit driving a Skoda Fabia RS Rally2, the Spaniard aboard a Toyota GR Yaris Rally2. Greensmith edged the day’s opening stage by four-tenths, but Solans was hitting back hard on the next one and was 7.6s up at the penultimate split before disaster struck.

Solans misjudged a left-hander and rolled, losing over three minutes and handing Greensmith, co-driven by Jonas Andersson, a clear run to the finish. The win marked Greensmith’s first WRC2 triumph since Safari Rally Kenya 12 months ago, where he’d battled through illness to take the spoils. It was also a double celebration for British rallying, with Greensmith’s class win adding to Evans’ overall victory.

Skoda Fabia RS driver Gus Greensmith made it two WRC2 Safari Rally wins in two years. Jaanus Ree/Red Bull Content Pool

Next up for the WRC, an all-new challenge awaits next, as Spain’s round of the championship moves from the mainland to the Canary Isles off the west coast of Africa. The all-asphalt Rally Islas Canarias, based on the third-largest island of Gran Canaria, takes place April 24-27.

WRC Safari Rally Kenya, final positions after Sunday/Leg Three, SS21
1 Elfyn Evans/Scott Martin (Toyota GR Yaris Rally1) 4h20m03.8s
2 Ott Tanak/Martin Jarveoja (Hyundai i20 N Rally1) +1m09.9s
3 Thierry Neuville/Martijn Wydaeghe (Hyundai i20 N Rally1) +3m32.0s
4 Sami Pajari/Marko Salminen (Toyota GR Yaris Rally1) +7m18.7s
5 Takamoto Katsuta/Aaron Johnston (Toyota GR Yaris Rally1) +8m15.7s
6 Gregoire Munster/Louis Louka (Ford Puma Rally1) +11m35.3s
7 Gus Greensmith/Jonas Andersson (Skoda Fabia RS – WRC2 winner) +14m11.6s
8 Jan Solans/Rodrigo Sanjuan (Toyota GR Yaris Rally2 – WRC2) +17m26.6s
9 Jordan Serderidis/Frederic Miclotte (Ford Puma Rally1) +28m45.5s
10 Fabrizio Zaldivar/Marcel der Ohannesian (Skoda Fabia RS – WRC2) +35m38.8s

WRC Drivers’ Championship after 3 of 14 rounds
1 Evans 88 points
2 Neuville 52
3 Tanak 49
4 Katsuta 35
5 Sebastien Ogier 33
6 Fourmaux 31

WRC Manufacturers’ Championship after 3 of 14 rounds
1 Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT 158 points
2 Hyundai Word Rally Team 122
3 M-Sport Ford 43
4 Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT2 25

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