Success in Safari Rally brought Elfyn Evans to the leadership of WRC – Automobile Magazine

36 -year -old Toyota driver, Estonian Ott Tanak more than a minute in front of the race by completing the race for the first time in two consecutive wins.

Tanak from Hyundai took the race ahead of the snow on Friday, while Evans’s teammate Kalle Rovanpera was out of the race after a series of problems.

Evans was the first victory of Kenya, while Toyota was the fifth in a row in Safari.

Orum I congratulate the team, they did a great job, and I am proud to have a very small place in the history of Toyota in this special rally, Ev Evans, who won the largest championship leader at the end of three rounds on the WRC history.

“I want to thank everyone in Kenya for a very warm welcome and a magnificent rally.”

Evans and assistant pilot Scott Martin, who won the opening stage of Thursday and two stages of Saturday, started Sunday with a difference in a slightly below two minutes.

However, considering the wearing structure of the rally, the Toyota Gazoo Racing duo chose to keep security in the last five stages.

Although they left behind 47 seconds for the last day, they completed the race for 1 minute 9.9 seconds in front of Tanak, and Thierry Neuville was 2 minutes and 22 seconds.

Evans collected only two points on Sunday, but collecting 25 points for the rally win and increased the total score to 88 after the second place in Sweden and Rally Monte Carlo, which was the opening of the season in January.

Last year’s champion Neuville rose from the fourth place to the second place with 52 points, while Tanak rose to the third place with 49 points.

Takamoto Katsuta was moving towards the fourth place from Toyota, but he could not reach the finish line due to the damage he had taken in the last stage, and the Great British Gus Greensmith, who won the WRC2 class, rose to the sixth place.

Northern Irish Josh Mcerlean had mixed luck in the third race of the first WRC season. In the opening race on Saturday, he lost 29 minutes after breaking the steering arm of Ford M-Sport Puma.

However, Mcerlean and the assistant pilot Eoin Treacy achieved the best performance in the Rally1 vehicle by gaining the second best time in the 15th stage.

They ranked 10th in Kenya and got two super market points, but they fell to 12th in the overall classification.

The fourth leg of the calendar consisting of 14 races will be Rally Islas Canarias between April 24-27.

Safari rally result of Kenya

1. Elfyn Evans (Great Britain), Toyota, 4 hours 20 minutes 3.8 seconds

2. OTT Tanak (Estonia), Hyundai, +1 minutes 09.9 seconds

3. Thierry Neuville (Belgium), Hyundai, +3min 3 32.0sn

4. Sami Pajari (Finland), Toyota, +7 minutes 18.7 seconds

5. Gregoire Munster (Luxembourg), Ford, +11min 35.3sn

6. Gus Greensmith (Great Britain), Skoda, +14min 11.6sn

10. Josh Mcerlean (Ireland), Ford, +37min 15.8sn

FIA World Rally Championship Pilots Ranking