The second day of Safari Rally Kenya 2025 has come to an end. Elfyn Evans took the event lead after a typically chaotic day.
Morning Loop (Stages 3-6)
Ott Tänak retained the event lead after a strong opening loop. As the Estonian 3 out of the 4 stages during the loop. Kalle Rovanperä was the only other stage winner during the loop. Tänak heads into the afternoon loop with a 24.4-second lead over Elfyn Evans. Neuville kicked off the day by getting a minute penalty for being late to the stage start. Neuville got another 10-second penalty for a jump start on SS5. Gregoire Munster had suspension damage on SS4 but was able to repair the issue. Katsuta had to take the morning easy as he ran out of spare tires and getting another puncture would’ve forced him to retire.
Afternoon Loop (Stages 7-10)
Elfyn Evans took the event lead after a chaotic second loop. Evans takes a 7.7-second lead over Kalle Rovanperä into the third day. Rovanperä won two stages during the loop, while Tänak and Neuville each won a single round. Both Tänak and McErlean had issues on SS8. Tänak ended the stage with drops of oil coming out of the car. While McErlean did part of the stage in road mode due to damage which caused dust to enter the car. Tänak had an issue with the driveshaft during SS9, but slightly fixed the issue for SS10, but still lost the event lead.
Quotes
Toyota Gazoo Racing
Juha Kankkunen (Deputy Team Principal)
“In the end it has been a positive day for our team overall. It has been a long and challenging day but our drivers managed to keep a good, consistent speed. This first stage of the loop in particular was very difficult: you could push hard and take a lot of time but you could also lose the whole rally there. Our boys did a fantastic job and it has paid off at the end of the day. I’m quite satisfied so far but we have to remember that this is a long rally, tomorrow is another day and so many things can happen so quickly on this event. It’s not over until Sunday.”
Elfyn Evans (Driver car 33)
“It’s been a clean and strong day for us. Maybe we were not always the fastest, but I’m happy to be at the end of the day with no trouble. It was a tough day and this first stage of the loop was especially rough; the chance of damage was high with so many loose rocks. We definitely erred on the side of caution in places and that seems to have paid off, but there’s still a very long way to go. It can be a bit frustrating when you feel that you can go a bit faster and take more risk, but I just keep reminding myself where we are. Tomorrow might be slightly shorter but it’s still not going to be an easy day.”
Kalle Rovanperä (Driver car 69)
“It has been a good day. The morning could have been better as I was losing some time in the more narrow and technical roads in the first two stages, but when we went to the faster stages it was much better and I had a really good feeling. The afternoon was much better overall. The conditions were really tough but we were able to take care of the car like we planned: it’s always important on this rally to manage your pace and stick to your plan. You can go quicker but you can run into trouble easily. Tomorrow the stages have a different style and the weather could play a big part too.”
Takamoto Katsuta (Driver car 18)
“The day started badly in the first long stage this morning with a lot of rocks, and we got a double puncture. It was very frustrating and we had no spares left for the rest of the morning, so we had to be very careful but we managed to get through it and back to service. This afternoon was even rougher and we were trying to avoid mistakes. Unfortunately we got another puncture but the pace when I pushed was quite OK and the feeling is nice in the car. There’s still two days to go, which is a long way in this rally, and everything is still possible.”
Sami Pajari (Driver car 5)
“We knew that today would be challenging and it was the case already in the first stage this morning, where we stopped to change a tyre and again got a stone to the windscreen somehow. But we were able to regather ourselves with a couple of clean stages to end the morning, and then the afternoon was really good. The car is working really nicely with no issues and the times are also pretty solid, so I can be happy with that. I’m getting more used to the conditions and reading the changes in the road, and I’m starting to understand where I can push and where I need to be cautious, so it’s a good feeling to end the day.”
Hyundai Shell Mobis
Ott Tänak
“At the end of the second stage of the afternoon, I noticed we had a driveline issue but we managed to finish the stage. We then realised it was an issue with the driveshaft but we were unable to remove it before the penultimate stage, so we had to drive through it carefully to stop it from damaging the engine. Luckily, we managed to remove it for the final stage so we didn’t have to nurse it. We will try to come back tomorrow but we know its rough, its demanding and its hard on the car. ”
Thierry Neuville
“It has been a really challenging day, but we were giving our best. We had some cooling issues this afternoon that we tried to fix by dismantling the whole front end of the car and putting it back together, but it didn’t work as well as we wanted it to, so we had to take care on the stages. It was extreme conditions but we are happy to be here at the end of a difficult day. If we take away our penalties and the time we lost from the puncture, we would have been leading the rally today, but it is what it is and there is still a long way to go.”
Adrien Fourmaux
“I was happy with the car and the balance today, and I was being careful in the rocky places but then pushing where I knew I could. I was feeling really comfortable but then everything went wrong this afternoon. We had a slow puncture so we managed to continue for a few kilometres before the tyre started deflating, then in the fesh-fesh I didn’t see a rock and we had a big impact which broke the suspension. It is frustrating and we should have stopped to change the puncture, but it is easy to say this in hindsight. We will come back fighting tomorrow and target Super Sunday points. ”