Elfyn Evans has claimed back-to-back World Rally Championship wins for the first time in his career with victory at 2025’s Safari Rally Kenya, while Takamoto Katsuta crashed on the final stage.
The Toyota driver backed off to secure the win on the final day, beating Ott Tänak by 1m09.9s with reigning world champion finishing third – his first Safari podium that also gave Hyundai its first ever double podium in Africa.
Despite Neuville and Tänak outscoring him in terms of Super Sunday and powerstage bonus points, Evans’ championship lead has grown to 36 points over Neuville, with Tänak another three behind.
Two-time World Rally champion Kalle Rovanperä is some 57 points adrift, after he was forced to retire on Sunday morning with an electrical issue on his Toyota.
In the manufacturers’ battle Toyota’s lead has been slimmed to 26 points as it was outscored by Hyundai to the tune of 22 points in Kenya.
Evans’ route to victory was as straightforward as it can be on the Safari. Minor problems like a 360-degree spin and a helmet swap on Friday due to an intercom beginning to fail were all he had to deal with as he managed things perfectly from the front.
“I want to say thank you to everyone in Kenya for a very warm welcome, and an amazing rally,” Evans said. “A huge well done to the team, they did a great job and I’m proud to be a very small part of Toyota’s history at this special rally.”
Tänak had been the early leader across Friday but was pegged back when a driveshaft broke aboard his Hyundai. But dramas for Rovanperä, who drove two stages on Saturday with broken suspension, allowed him to sneak back up to the runner-up spot.
Neuville’s weekend started badly when he left Friday morning service six minutes late due to a transmission and driveshaft change, incurring a one-minute time penalty. He then picked up a 10s penalty for a jump-start, and a further 50s for arriving to a stage due to clearing his air filter of fech-fech and then spent most of Friday night on the toilet instead of sleeping.
But multiple punctures and changes for Katsuta prevented the Toyota driver from getting ahead, despite his clear and obvious pace. He was on to secure fourth place and protect his record of finishing in the top four on every visit to the Safari, but in a push for bonus points he rolled his Toyota on the powerstage.
Nearby spectators were able to help the car back onto its roof, but Katsuta dropped three minutes and therefore position to Sami Pajari. That all became academic when he was forced to retire after the stage with too much damage.
“I don’t know what’s happened,” a disconsolate Katsuta said, shaking his head. “Just sorry for the team, nothing else.”
M-Sport’s Grégoire Munster was fifth but had a late scare when his Puma Rally1 dramatically slowed on the final stage of Sunday morning, necessitating a gearbox change.
It was an emotional finish for the Luxembourger, who won his second WRC stage this weekend and revealed his grandad passed away on Wednesday.
Munster’s team-mate Josh McErlean lost half an hour when a steering arm broke and he stopped to change it mid-stage – leaving him 10th overall. The third, privateer M-Sport Ford of Jourdan Serderidis was eighth.
Adrien Fourmaux meanwhile endured a disastrous weekend – retiring on Thursday with a master relay failure, and then again on Friday as a puncture broke his suspension.
Hyundai therefore chose not to send him out for Saturday’s stages, focusing on an all-out attack on Sunday which did bear fruit.
Carrying just one spare for the final loop, Fourmaux topped both Super Sunday and the powerstage to bag himself 10 consolation championship points.
Gus Greensmith topped WRC2 at the Safari for the second year in succession, as Jan Solans and Fabrizio Zaldivar completed the podium.
Solans had been just 6.2s behind Greensmith until he rolled his Toyota on the day’s second stage, but he kept hold of second despite losing three minutes.
Oliver Solberg finished fifth – leading comfortably on Friday afternoon before he got beached in a section of deep fech-fech.
