Toyota’s Elfyn Evans leads Safari Rally Kenya after a dramatic and attritional Friday leg, the FIA World Rally Championship points leader grabbed the advantage after frontrunner Ott Tanak fell foul of mechanical problems late in the day.
In true Safari fashion, few crews emerged unscathed from the first full day of the WRC’s toughest event, which featured eight brutal stages of rocks, mud, ruts and car-swallowing beds of fesh-fesh dust across the Great Rift Valley. More than half the Rally1 field – the cars aiming for the overall win – suffered issues as stark reminders of the rally’s unforgiving nature.
Tanak had looked unstoppable early on, storming to four stage wins and opening up a lead of nearly a minute. But disaster struck in the afternoon when a driveshaft failure left his Hyundai i20 N Rally1 with only rear-wheel drive. The Estonian shipped time across the final two tests, dropping to third overall with an overnight deficit to the leader of 55.4s.
That opened the door for Evans, who steadily climbed the order in his Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 with a clean and consistent performance — despite not setting a single fastest stage time.
The Welshman, who arrived in Kenya with a 28-point championship lead, ended the day with a slender buffer over Toyota Gazoo Racing teammate Kalle Rovanpera, a right-rear tire deflation near the finish of the day’s final stage, 9.38-mile Kedong 2, being his only notable scare.
Rovanpera was just 7.7s adrift in second and might have been leading himself, but for a spin on a particularly narrow section of the Kedong 1 stage, which saw him lose time trying to get his car pointed in the right direction. That aside, the Finn also enjoyed a relatively drama-free day.
“It’s been a difficult day, and we’ve erred on the side of caution,” said Evans. “Obviously, some guys have had trouble, which is unfortunate, but it’s part of the Safari. It’s a bit frustrating sometimes because you feel like you can take a bit more risk and go a bit faster, but I keep reminding myself where we are.
“It’s a shame for Ott to have a mechanical [failure] like that,” he added. “You never know in this game if it’s because the car has had an impact or if it’s just a standard failure, but it’s a shame for him because he was going well.”
Tanak wasn’t the only Hyundai driver to hit trouble. Reigning WRC champ Thierry Neuville’s day began with a one-minute penalty after his i20 N Rally1 was delayed leaving service due to a transmission change. More issues followed — including a jump start (resulting in a 10-second penalty), a tire losing its bead,and a further 50s penalty for lateness to the afternoon’s second stage after another technical glitch. Despite the setbacks, Neuville reached the overnight halt in fourth, 36.0s behind Tanak.
Hyundai’s other entry, Adrien Fourmaux, who’d rejoined under restart rules following an electrical issue on Thursday’s two-stage curtain-raiser, retired again when a right-front steering arm broke on the afternoon’s opening stage. The Frenchman had been nursing a puncture and drove six miles through the stage with the flailing tire before the suspension finally gave way.
It wasn’t a smooth ride for Toyota’s Takamoto Katsuta either. Tire damage early in the day put him out of podium contention, and a similar issue in the 8.15-mile Geothermal 2 stage cost more time. He ended Friday fifth overall, more than four minutes off the lead.
Just behind Katsuta was teammate Sami Pajari in the fourth of the GR Yaris Rally1s. He was also delayed by tire issues, while seventh-placed Josh McErlean led M-Sport Ford’s charge after an eventful afternoon. The Irishman battled through problems in his Puma Rally1 that included a power-sapping squashed exhaust and a trunk floor punctured by a loose spare wheel.
In WRC2, the second tier of international rallying, Kajetan Kajetanowicz made the most of a dramatic twist in Friday’s action to lead the class on his first start of the 2025 season.
The Polish driver, who’s switched to a Toyota GR Yaris Rally2 after years campaigning Skoda machinery, moved to the top of the leaderboard when early pacesetter Oliver Solberg hit trouble on the second run through the 20-mile Camp Moran stage.
Solberg, joint WRC2 points leader coming into the weekend, had looked untouchable in the morning. He carved out a 40.3s advantage before disaster struck — beaching his GR Yaris Rally2 in a deep bed of fesh-fesh (fine sand) and retiring for the day.
Kajetanowicz, despite nursing a puncture earlier in the leg, kept his cool to pick up the pieces and end the day 10.2s clear of Gus Greensmith’s Skoda Fabia RS.
“It is exactly as tough or even tougher than we predicted,” said Kajetanowicz. “There are many stones and we had a puncture on one of the stages – fortunately with just seven kilometers to go on this long, over 30-kilometer [Camp Moran 1] test.”
After that rough Friday leg, anyone hoping for less tough conditions will be disappointed. Saturday’s penultimate leg brings six more car-breaking stages covering 91 competitive miles, including two runs through the event’s signature test, 16.7-mile Sleeping Warrior.
WRC Safari Rally Kenya, positions after Friday/Leg One, SS10
1 Elfyn Evans/Scott Martin (Toyota GR Yaris Rally1) 2h00m45.4s
2 Kalle Rovanpera/Jonne Halttunen (Toyota GR Yaris Rally1) +7.7s
3 Ott Tanak/Martin Jarveoja (Hyundai i20 N Rally1) +55.4s
4 Thierry Neuville/Martijn Wydaeghe (Hyundai i20 N Rally1) +1m31.4s
5 Takamoto Katsuta/Aaron Johnston (Toyota GR Yaris Rally1) +3m26.4s
6 Sami Pajari/Marko Salminen (Toyota GR Yaris Rally1) +4m19.1s
7 Josh McErlean/Eoin Treacy ((Ford Puma Rally1) +5m35.4s
8 Kajetan Kajetanowicz/Maciej Szczepaniak (Toyota GR Yaris Rally2 – WRC2 leader) +5m53.8s
9 Gus Greensmith/Jonas Andersson (Skoda Fabia RS – WRC2) +6m04.0s
10 Jan Solans/Rodrigo Sanjuan (Toyota GR Yaris Rally2 – WRC2) +6m34.1s
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