TOYOTA GAZOO Racing World Rally Team aims to defend its unbeaten record on the iconic Safari Rally Kenya when it contests its 100th event in the FIA World Rally Championship on March 20-23.
The team reaches a century of rallies since its debut in 2017 having made a perfect start to the defence of its manufacturers’ championship title, scoring a one-two finish and maximum points from each of the first two rallies in Monte Carlo and Sweden. It represents the best start to a WRC season by a manufacturer in the modern era.
Elfyn Evans travels to the only African round of the championship leading the drivers’ standings following an excellent victory on the snow of Sweden. He was involved in thrilling duel to the finish with team-mate Takamoto Katsuta, for whom Kenya has been a happy hunting ground with three previous podium finishes. Kalle Rovanperä, currently the closest full-season challenger to Evans in the points, also has a strong record on the Safari with wins in 2022 and 2024. Sami Pajari, on the other hand, will be taking on the event for the first time in his TGR-WRT2 entry.
TGR-WRT itself has a proud history on the Safari, winning all four editions held since the event returned to the calendar in 2021 and extending Toyota’s record tally of victories to 12. This year’s running marks 40 years since Juha Kankkunen scored his first ever WRC win on the very same event driving the Toyota Celica Twincam Turbo, and will be the four-time world champion’s first time leading the team on the ground in his new role as Deputy Team Principal.
The Safari Rally continues to provide a unique challenge for WRC teams and drivers, with some sections that are extremely rough and rocky, while others consisting of soft sand can be just as hard to negotiate. Rain has the potential to turn the usually dry and dusty tracks into mud, with teams able to fit snorkel systems to help cars navigate deep water or soft sand and prevent engines being starved of air.
The route has been expanded this year to make this the longest WRC round for many years, at 384.86 competitive kilometres. As usual, the rally begins from the Kenyan capital city Nairobi on Thursday lunchtime, with the nearby Kasarani super special serving as the first stage. This will be followed by a new stage, Mzabibu, close to the service park in Naivasha. Another new stage, Camp Moran – the longest of the rally at 32.2 km – begins a loop of four stages run twice on Friday, while Saturday takes crews north to Lake Elmenteita for a trio of repeated tests. Mzabibu is revisited as the first of five stages on Sunday, when Hell’s Gate hosts the rally-ending Power Stage.
The GR Yaris Rally2 will compete on African soil for the first time, with four customer entries among the leading six crews on the WRC2 entry list. Oliver Solberg of Printsport is the joint championship leader following a home win in Sweden, and is joined by the Teo Martín Motorsport duo of Spain’s Jan Solans and Paraguay’s Diego Domínguez, as well as Poland’s Kajetan Kajetanowicz, the three-time European champion making his GR Yaris Rally2 debut with the Rallylab Technology team.
