WRC | Rain Rewrites Safari Rally – "Zero Room for Error"

Rain Reigns Chaos at Safari Rally – WRC Drivers Battle Nature’s Fury!

Kenya’s Safari Rally, one of the WRC calendar’s toughest challenges, faced a new layer of drama this year as torrential rain transformed stages into muddy battlegrounds. Flooded roads, landslides, and near-zero visibility pushed drivers to their limits.

"The margin for error here is already tiny – the rain made it vanish," said Toyota’s Kalle Rovanperä, summing up the rally’s brutal reality.

Rain-Induced Mayhem

Saturday’s downpour turned stages into nightmares:

• Flash floods submerged roads, forcing drivers to guess water depths.

• Mudslides buried tire tracks, turning navigation into a gamble.

• Visibility dropped so low that Hyundai’s Thierry Neuville joked: "It was like driving through a car wash without wipers."

Ott Tänak’s Ford Puma plunged into a waterlogged ditch, losing crucial seconds as the car struggled to escape.

Rovanperä’s Rally Unravels – Evans Seizes Opportunity

Kalle Rovanperä started strong but fell victim to the conditions when his Toyota GR Yaris got stuck in deep mud. "This wasn’t about luck anymore – just survival," he admitted.

Meanwhile, Elfyn Evans (Toyota) and Adrien Fourmaux (Ford) climbed the ranks, their cars enduring the abuse. Fourmaux’s rally nearly ended when his car spun 360 degrees in a mud pit – but he escaped unscathed.

Safari Rally: Nature Always Wins

The Safari Rally’s wild reputation grew as rain added chaos to its legacy. Even modern cars couldn’t tame the elements. "This is still nature’s stage," said veteran Sébastien Ogier.

Evans claimed victory, but the real winner was the rally itself – a brutal reminder of motorsport’s rawest beauty.