The toughest Safari Rally Kenya for a generation pushed drivers and cars to the limits.
Not a single crew got through it completely unscathed, but as ever there were some that tamed the challenge better than others – although it was particularly tight to call this time.
These are DirtFish’s (Rally1) driver rankings from Safari Rally Kenya 2025:
9 Takamoto Katsuta
Given the green light by Toyota team management to push on the final day, despite Kalle Rovanperä’s retirement, was subliminally a test for Takamoto Katsuta.
Prove, like you did in Sweden, that you can be fast without compromising the result.
He didn’t manage it, and it cost his team dearly.
8 Adrien Fourmaux
Adrien Fourmaux’s Sunday drive was excellent to claim all 10 points – but comes with the caveat that Hyundai designed his rally strategy to do just that once he’d retired for a second time on Friday.
But the Frenchman yet again showed the speed that threatens to make him a WRC winner soon.
Better judgement (deciding to stop and change the puncture he suffered on Camp Moran 2 that led to suspension damage, instead of continuing) could have yielded him overall points too, though.
7 Josh McErlean
Josh McErlean is nothing if not determined.
Impressive spirit to get on with changing a steering arm during a stage after it broke on Saturday – and a (rain assisted) second-fastest stage time in the afternoon was a nice reward.
Didn’t put a foot wrong all weekend.
6 Grégoire Munster
Ranks higher than his team-mate here for two reasons.
Firstly, he got the stage win on the test where the rainfall benefited the cars at the front of the order.
Secondly, he dealt so well with the heartbreak of losing his grandad the day before the rally started so well that even his boss Richard Millener wasn’t aware it had happened.
5 Thierry Neuville
The world champion’s Safari jinx is over as he finally claimed a podium finish in Kenya.
Not up there with Neuville’s most amazing performances, but aside from the jump-start on SS5 he was typically dogged – particularly considering he was feeling unwell on Saturday.
4 Kalle Rovanperä
Deserved far more than what he got.
Lest we forget Kalle Rovanperä was within 10s of Elfyn Evans’ rally lead before it all went awry for him.
Paid a high price for the mistake of hitting the rock that broke his suspension on Saturday afternoon – but then again, nobody else hit it.
3 Sami Pajari
A man with a plan, and executed it to perfection.
Equaled his best WRC result (albeit with a major assist from Katsuta on the final stage) and drove the perfect Safari considering his experience level.
Didn’t trouble the top stage times, but that was wise. Instead kept his head down and was rewarded with a big haul of points.
2 Ott Tänak
Very hard to split Ott Tänak and Evans, so we’ll lean on the rally result to help in our ranking.
Ahead by over 45s, the Safari could so easily have been Tänak’s. But the driveshaft failure on Friday afternoon left him with too much to do against a rival as composed as Evans.
1 Elfyn Evans
Picking the rally winner as the highest performing driver is predictable – arguably even boring – but find us an error Evans made in Kenya and we’ll reconsider.
Another faultless drive, which is becoming rather habitual.
