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Elfyn Evans with his navigator Scott Martin in action at Sleeping Warrior stage during the WRC on March 22,2025.[Kipsang Joseph, Standard]
The thrilling 2025 World Rally Championship (WRC), the Safari Rally, heads to the finish line in Naivasha on Sunday with global manufacturers Toyota and Hyundai in the rat race.
Thousands of spectators are expected to grace the last five stages of the day namely Mzabibu 2 (8.27km), Oserengoni 1 (18.33km), Hell’s Gate 1 (10.53km), Oserengoni 2 (18.33km) and Hell’s Gate 2 (10.53km), expected to produce scintillating performance if not a new champion, going by the Day 3 results on Saturday evening.
President Ruto is expected to crown the ultimate winner of the championship at the historic Hell’s Gate where the final Wolf Power Stage run will be held and watched by millions of eyeballs from across the globe.
On the cusp of history is Toyota ace and Welshman Elfyn Evans who has sparkled in the last two days, but again 2019 world winner Ott Tanak and reigning world champion Thierry Neuville, all of Hyundai, are breathing heavily on his neck in second and third.
Evans seems firmly on the driving seat heading to Sunday’s Battle Royale on the unforgiving terrains of Naivasha. He has tightened his grip on the Safari lead since he clawed himself back to apex on Friday.
Evans clocked 3:38:39.3 to open a 1.57 second lead at the top followed by Tanak in 3:40:36.7 and Neuville third in 3:43:12.7.
“I wasn’t expecting the extreme conditions in the morning but soon realized that this was coming especially at Sleeping Warrior which was very strange. It was horrendous, then it got worse and then all of a sudden it dried out of nowhere which is unbelievable. The afternoon was even worse as the rains dominated.
“But nonetheless, I had an amazing encounter with Zebras, gazelles and other animals, which makes Kenya one of the beautiful countries to travel for sports tourism vacation,” Evans told Standard Sports.
Evans started off the WR C season on good footing in Monte Carlo in January where he finished second behind eight-time world champion and teammate Sebastien Ogier.
He rose to the occasion to triumph in Rally Sweden last month which boosted his morale ahead of the Safari Rally in Kenya.
And it seems the gods are on his side this time round on Kenyan soil where he has tried to hit the glass ceiling twice, ending second overall in 2022 and third in 2023. Will he finally lift the elusive historic Safari Rally title today? Let’s wait and see.
Six stages were completed on Saturday with Evans and his teammate Katsuta Takamoto bagging two each as Tanak and Ford Puma marksman Gregoire Munster winning one a piece. The section completed included Sleeping Warrior (26.97km), Elmenteita (17.31km) and Soysambu (28.97km) with the loops repeated in the afternoon.
The Saturday battle was characterized by incessant rains, and cold and muddy patches that proved quite a challenge to the drivers in the afternoon loops.
At the Sleeping Warrior 1, Adrien Fourmaux (Hyundai) failed to start. The section had muddy tracks with puddles in some places for the starting 8.5km which was quite a challenge to the drivers.
The stretch also proved a thorn in the flesh for Kenyan drivers Karan Patel, Hamza Anwar and Minesh Rathod.
Tanak was unlucky here as he developed a puncture on the rear wheel same as Neuville who stopped to change a puncture at the 20km mark.
Elmenteita 1 was paltry dry and paltry filled with mud. Casualties here included Gus Greensmith and Kalle Rovanpera who developed punctures. Munster also stopped at 9.13km to change the wheels.
Soysambu 1 section was without any major incident. Rovanpera was the only notable casualty as he had to change a front left puncture.
Sleeping Warrior 2, ran in the afternoon and was heavily rained on. Evans went wide on the last corner of the stretch. Rovanpera had a broken left suspension. Sami Pajari lost his control of the muddy water-filled patches. Neuville and Jourdan Serderidis lost their control to go off-road while Munster suffered a puncture.
At Elmenteita 2, Rovanpera was hit with a time penalty, he also damaged his left rear tyre, and Neuville, Katsuta and Serderidis suffered punctures too.
Ochieng Oyugi
| Mar 22, 2025