WRC: Impressive Victory for Elfyn Evans at the Tough Safari Rally

Despite being only the third rally of the World Rally Championship season, what happened in Kenya confirms that this year could be Elfyn Evans’ year. After 21 extremely tough special stages at the Safari Rally in Kenya, the Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 driver beat Ott Tänak of Hyundai by a margin of 1 minute and 9.9 seconds to secure his second win of the season, following Monte Carlo, and extend his championship lead to 36 points over Hyundai’s Thierry Neuville, last year’s champion, who finished in third place. Following four difficult days of racing on dirt, mud, and rocks, starting from Nairobi and taking place in the formidable Great Rift Valley of Kenya, with over 250,000 spectators according to police estimates, Evans led from Friday and managed to stay at the top until the end, despite minor issues. However, his rivals faced much bigger problems, with broken tires and damaged suspensions. Thus, Evans joins the legendary British winners of an iconic rally, alongside Colin McRae and Richard Burns. In fourth place was Kalle Rovanperä with Toyota, and fifth was Craig Breen with Ford Puma. The next race is the asphalt-based Rally Gran Canaria, from April 24th to 27th.