Table of Contents
- Elfyn Evans of Toyota Gazoo Racing won and co-driver Scott Martin won the Kenya Safari Rally 2025 challenge
- His victory pushed his lead in the World Rally Championship (WRC) to 88 points
- The duo stuck to a safety-first approach in the five final stages of the Kenya Safari Rally
Elfyn Evans of Toyota Gazoo Racing won and co-driver Scott Martin won the Kenya Safari Rally 2025 challenge held in Naivasha.
His victory pushed his lead in the World Rally Championship (WRC) to 88 points. Evans, a Welshman dethroned fellow Toyota teammate Kalle Rovanpera who won the Kenyan challenge in 2024.
Evans, 36, finished over a minute ahead of Hyundai’s Ott Tanak. Tanak aggressively pursued the top stage but Evans stayed calmly ahead since Friday.
The Estonian had big shoes to fill after Rovanpera retired from the rally over a failed suspension and two punctures.
Elfyn Evans Safari Rally in Kenya Championship
Elfyn Evans and Martin set winning signals early on. They won the opening stage at Moi International Sports Centre Kasarani on Thursday.
The duo added two more opening-stage victories on Saturday. Come Sunday, it was all calm for them as they took victory in under two minutes.
Evans is excited about his first win in Kenya with Toyota.
Elfyn Evans and his co-driver Scott Martin of Toyota Gazoo Racing celebrate their first safari rally victory in Kenya. The Welshmen have 11 more rallies under the WRC Calendar but so far so good for Toyota. Photo/Elfyn Evans
“Asante Sana. Thank you. Diolch Kenya! What a challenging weekend it’s been but we managed to stay out of trouble to win our first Safari Rally Kenya on the team’s 100th WRC event!” he said.
“I want to say thank you to everyone in Kenya for the warm welcome, it really has been an amazing rally. A huge well done to the team, @tgr_wrc they did a phenomenal job and I’m proud to be a small part of the history of Toyota in this special rally!”
The duo stuck to a safety-first approach in the five final stages of the Kenya Safari Rally 2025. This approach enabled them to maintain a healthy one-minute 9.9 seconds lead over Estonian driver Tanak.
Kenya Safari Rally 2025 Results
Here are the full results of the teams in the WRC Safari Rally Kenya
- Elfyn Evans – 4 hours 20 minutes 3.8 seconds (Great Britain, Toyota Gazoo Racing)
- Ott Tanak – +1min 09.9secs (Estonia, Hyundai)
- Thierry Neuville – +3mins 32.0secs (Belgium, Hyundai)
- Sami Pajari – +7mins 18.7secs (Finland, Toyota)
- Takamoto Katsuta – +8mins 15.7secs (Japan, Toyota)
- Gregoire Munster – +11mins 35.3secs (Luxembourg, Ford)
- Josh McErlean – +37mins 15.8secs (Ireland, Ford)
Who is Leading in FIA World Rally Championship Standings?
Trophy ceremony for Kenya Safari Rally 2025 at Hell’s Gate National Park in Naivasha. Toyota Gazoo Racing won the rally with Elfyn Evans and co-driver Martin Scott winning their first Kenyan stage. Photo/WRC – FIA World Rally Championship
Elfyn Evans winning the Kenya Safari Rally added 25 points to the FIA World Rally Championship table. His star this year is shining bright after winning the Sweden safari rally in February.
He finished second in Rallye Monte Carlo which was the first rally of the season held in January. The provisional FIA World Rally Championship drivers’ standings look like this:
- Elfyn Evans 88 points
- Thierry Neuville 52 points
- Ott Tanak 49 points
- Takamoto Katsuta 35 points
- Sebastien Ogier 33 points (France, Toyota)
- Kalle Rovanpera 31points
- Josh McErlean 7 points
Although Evans leads on the biggest FIA WRC stage with just three rallies in the season, he says it’s too early to celebrate.
A season has 14 rallies across different continents which are more challenging than Kenya was. Evans is all too aware of all this and knows better than to celebrate early.
“It’s so early in the season you almost have to ignore it,” he told the press after his Kenyan safari rally victory.
