DOLGELLAU driver Elfyn Evans heads to Safari Rally Kenya leading the FIA World Rally Championships following an excellent victory on the snow of Sweden.

His Toyota Gazoo Racing World Rally Team will be aiming to defend its unbeaten record on the iconic rally, the onlyAfrican round of the championship, 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.

In Sweden, Evans was involved in a 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.

Evans said: “It’s been a good start to the year for us and we can be happy with how well the first two events have gone, but now the focus moves to gravel, where the learning starts again with another new tyre.

“While not representative of the roads in Kenya, our test last week was good familiarisation with this year’s specification of car on gravel and with the tyres.

“The Safari is a unique rally with a special set of conditions to face: it’s not easy even if it’s dry, but when you add the likelihood of rain and standing water, it can be a huge challenge just to get to the end.

“This has been an amazing rally for the team over recent years and while it’s not perhaps been my strongest event personally, we want to aim as high as possible and challenge for the win if it’s possible.”

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.

Team principal Jari-Matti Latvala said: “The Safari Rally is always a special event for our team, and this year’s edition has extra significance as our 100th WRC rally since we started in 2017.”