2025 Safari Rally Kenya – Saturday report
Elfyn Evans is poised to increase his FIA World Rally Championship (WRC) lead after surviving a chaotic Saturday at Safari Rally Kenya, ending the penultimate leg with a hefty 1min 57.4sec benefit.
Fortune favoured the Welshman as soon as once more as Africa’s legendary endurance check served up one other brutal serving to of carnage. From bone-dry mud bowls to rain-soaked mudbaths, the day showcased the complete spectrum of Safari extremes – and Evans was one of many few who stayed in tune.
He began Saturday with a slender 7.7sec buffer however instantly laid down a marker on the Sleeping Warrior opener. Even with rear tyre harm close to the top of the 26.97-kilometre check, he nonetheless prolonged his lead by 8.2sec over Toyota GAZOO Racing team-mate Kalle Rovanperä.
Rovanperä’s response unravelled swiftly. A front-right tyre deflation 5 kilometres from the top of Elmenteita price him 21.1sec, and worse adopted at Soysambu, the place a front-left puncture dropped him one other 55.5sec. By noon service, his deficit to Evans had ballooned to 1min 32.5sec.
Then got here the rain.
Situations deteriorated on the repeated afternoon loop, and though Rovanperä clawed again 11.7sec from Evans on a sodden second go of Sleeping Warrior, he arrived on the end with a broken rear suspension arm. A makeshift roadside repair involving a ratchet strap saved him going, however with no alternative however to again off by the ultimate two phases, he dropped nearly 5 minutes and slipped to fifth total behind Ott Tänak, Thierry Neuville and Takamoto Katsuta.
Evans, who arrived in Kenya holding a 28-point championship lead, is now inside touching distance of his first Safari Rally victory – and a considerably bolstered title benefit, ought to he make it by Sunday unscathed. That’s no foregone conclusion. His Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 sustained front-right harm after a second within the last stage – a well timed reminder of how the occasion can chew again.
The drama didn’t cease with Rovanperä. In basic Safari style, almost each Rally1 frontrunner confronted some type of adversity.
Second-placed Tänak misplaced time with a deflated tyre early on, then grappled with visibility points when the windscreen of his Hyundai i20 N Rally1 fogged up on SS12. Even so, he carries a 2min 36.0sec cushion over team-mate Neuville into Sunday’s five-stage finale.
Neuville’s day was something however easy. Two punctures, a misted windscreen, and a misfiring engine late within the day all mixed to gradual his cost. However he nonetheless gained a place on the ultimate check when Katsuta was compelled to cease and alter a wheel – his third deflation of the day.
The Japanese driver has additionally been battling sickness, making his pair of stage wins much more spectacular.
Sami Pajari introduced his Toyota house in a lonely sixth total, 54.4sec behind Rovanperä however greater than 4 minutes forward of Grégoire Munster’s Ford Puma Rally1. Munster started the day in eleventh and even bagged a stage win on SS15.
Gus Greensmith (Škoda Fabia RS Rally2) stole the WRC2 lead from Jan Solans (Toyota GR Yaris) on the day’s last stage, snatching an total eighth place within the course of. Simply 5.8sec separate the pair going into Sunday, the place 5 phases totalling nearly 66km lie in wait.
India’s Naveen Pulligilla holds a confortable lead within the WRC3 class in a Ford Fiesta Rally3 forward of Kenyan driver Nikhil Sachania in an identical automotive on the finish of Saturday.
