WRC Safari Rally Kenya: Evans takes the lead after Tänak's failures

The Welsh driver Elfyn Evans, leader of the WRC World Rally Championship, finished at the top of the 2025 Safari Rally Kenya after a first day full of complications that affected several of the main contenders, including Ott Tänak, who had dominated the morning stages.

The Estonian from Hyundai started the day with great authority, winning four consecutive timed stages and building a lead of nearly a minute. However, a transmission failure in the afternoon turned his i20 N Rally1 into a rear-wheel-drive-only vehicle, causing him to lose considerable time in the last two stages.

This situation allowed Evans, who maintained a steady pace throughout the day in his Toyota GR Yaris Rally1, to climb to the top position. The championship leader ended the day with a slim lead of just 7.7 seconds over his teammate Kalle Rovanperä.

"It's been a tricky day, and we've opted to be cautious," said Evans. "Some drivers have had problems, which is unfortunate, but that's part of the Safari. Sometimes it's frustrating because you feel you could push a bit more and increase the pace, but I keep reminding myself where we are."

Rovanperä holds second place despite Kedong incident

The Finnish driver Rovanperä, a two-time Safari winner, could be leading now if he hadn't spun in a particularly narrow section of the Kedong stage, where he lost time trying to reorient his car. Apart from that incident, he completed the rest of the day without major issues.

Tänak dropped to third place, with a deficit of 55.4 seconds to the leader. His teammate Thierry Neuville is in fourth place, 1 minute and 31.4 seconds behind, after accumulating several penalties and suffering mechanical setbacks throughout the day.

The Belgian Neuville, the current world champion, started the day with a one-minute penalty for leaving the service park late due to a gearbox change. This was compounded by an early start (+10 seconds), a flat tire, and an additional 50-second penalty for arriving late to SS8 after another technical issue.

Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 proves reliable in African conditions

The Toyota GAZOO Racing team holds four of the top six positions. Besides Evans and Rovanperä in first and second place respectively, Takamoto Katsuta is fifth and Sami Pajari sixth. Both drivers lost time due to tire issues.

Josh McErlean leads the M-Sport Ford effort in seventh place, after a troubled afternoon that included issues like a crushed exhaust and a trunk floor punctured by a loose spare wheel.

His teammate Adrien Fourmaux, who had re-entered under restart rules after an electrical issue on Thursday, retired again when the right front steering arm broke on SS7.

WRC2 Classification: Kajetanowicz capitalizes on Solberg's retirement

In the WRC2 category, Kajetan Kajetanowicz took advantage of Oliver Solberg's problems to take the lead in his first appearance of the 2025 season.

The Polish driver, who switched to a Toyota GR Yaris Rally2 after years of competing with Škoda machinery, moved into first place when Solberg, who had held a 40.3-second lead in the morning, got stuck in a deep section of fine sand ("fesh-fesh") on the second pass through Camp Moran, forcing him to retire for the day.

"The route presents many challenges, as we expected or even more," said Kajetanowicz. "There are many stones, and we had a puncture in one of the stages, fortunately when there were only seven kilometers left in this long stage of over 30 kilometers."

Gus Greensmith is in second place, 10.2 seconds behind the leader, while Jan Solans completes the provisional podium, 40.3 seconds off the lead.

Saturday's schedule includes six more demanding stages covering 146.50 kilometers.

Safari Rally WRC Results: Classification after Day 1

Position	Driver	Team	Time
1	Evans E.	Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT	2:00:45.4
2	Rovanpera K.	Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT	+7.7
3	Tanak O.	Hyundai Shell Mobis WRT	+55.4
4	Neuville T.	Hyundai Shell Mobis WRT	+1:31.4
5	Katsuta T.	Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT	+3:26.4
6	Pajari S.	Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT	+4:19.1
7	McErlean J.	M-Sport Ford WRT	+5:35.4
8	Kajetanowicz K.	Kajetanowicz K.	+5:53.8
9	Greensmith G.	Greensmith G.	+6:04.0
10	Solans J.	Solans J.	+6:34.1