Epic battle between man and machines awaits in Naivasha
Sports
By
Ochieng Oyugi
| Mar 20, 2025
Ladies and gentlemen, the hour has come.
The engines are roaring. The helicopters are at the ready. The spectators are ecstatic, drivers are tense and the parties will be endless.
Welcome to 'Vasha' as the third leg of the 2025 World Rally Championship (WRC), the Safari Rally zooms off today, and fans cannot wait.
All roads lead down to the lakeside town, where the action will be guaranteed after the off-the ramp meet at the City Hall Way in Nairobi this afternoon.
Indeed, many cannot wait to have a glimpse of the roaring global motorsports spectacle, expected to attract over 1.5 billion eye balls from across the world, as the powerful machines comb the rough terrains of Naivasha in search for glory.
Series leaders Toyota Gazoo Racing team have put up a formidable line-up to help them defend the Safari title, for a fifth time in a row, while cruising in their impressive Yaris Rally 1 cars.
Toyota heads to the championship on top of the world, topping the constructors standings on 120 points and the Japanese manufacturers are optimistic that their sensational Finn youngster, Kalle Rovanpera, will once again steer the outfit to a fourth podium sweep and a glorious finish on Kenyan soil.
In case this dream is achieved, it will be the perfect gift for their Finn legend Juha Kankkunen as the three-time Safari Rally winner and a four-time world champion has requested the Toyota gang on the Safari mission not to let him down in his quest to celebrate a 40th Anniversary since he first struck his jackpot on Kenyan soil.
Kankkunen won his first Safari in 1985 and before steering Toyota to a first ever podium sweep in 1993, a feat he would like to celebrate this year in Naivasha with an emphatic victory from the hawk eyed Toyota squad.
On the individual front, Rovanpera will be out to secure a third Safari Rally win following his victory in Naivasha in the 2022 and 2024 seasons.
The Finn heads to the Safari perched third on the WRC standings after a third and fourth place outing in Monte Carlo (France) and Rally Sweden in January and February respectively.
Another Toyota ace, Elfyn Evans (United Kingdom) is equally breathing fire as he takes the 2025 Safari head on.
Hopeful to put Toyota at bay is Hyundai who are parading a ferocious threesome consisting of reigning world champion Thierry Neuville (Belgium), 2019 world winner Ott Tanak (Estonia) and promising speed merchant Adrien Fourmaux ( France) who are ready to attack, destroy and dismantle history in the unforgiving Naivasha landscape on their i20 N Rally 1 machines.
"We have done our homework well, we believe we will break the jinx that has derailed our effort to clinch the Safari in the last four years," Neuville told Standard Sports.
Neuville has been quite unlucky in the Safari, failing to make it to the podium four times in a row, despite his early promising starts in the contest every year.
Even last season, the soft-spoken Belgium had a torrid outing in Kenya despite going ahead to bag his first world title.
Neuville had problems with his mechanical gremlins- from his damper to driveshaft and fuel pumps, that saw him retire in the Kenyan leg last year.
Locally, inspired Kenyan boy Hamza Anwar will go for the jugular in the WRC3 category which he is also defending. He is the second Kenyan to triumph in the category after Maxine Wahome in 2022.
Multiple national rally champion Carl Tundo will be the other Kenyan to watch as he seeks to defend his Master's trophy in the WRC where he is also aiming to gather points in the African Rally Championship and the Kenyan National Rally Championship (KNRC) categories.
It will be Tundo's 24th appearance in the Safari Rally and he is still counting. All-lady crew of Pauline Shegu/Linet Ayuko will challenge the status quo as they take on men head on in the WRC category.