Sebastien Ogier leads a second successive Toyota 1-2-3-4 finish at the Safari Rally Kenya on Sunday.
Ogier finished less than seven seconds ahead of World Rally Championship (WRC) leader Kalle Rovanpera.
Elfyn Evans and co-driver Scott Martin were almost three minutes behind their GR Yaris Rally1 teammates after an eventful four days.
Evans, who was the runner-up in 2022’s Safari Rally, collided with a bush on Friday’s stage seven and then lost significant time after stalling coming out of a water-splash on Saturday’s opening stage eight.
He also suffered front tyre damage on stage 10 and a half spin on yesterday’s wet 15th stage, as he and teammate Takamoto Katsuta repeatedly traded third and fourth position. All four Toyotas also struggled to cope with dust on the final day, each car reaching the stop line on the penultimate stage with a warning alarm illuminated on the dashboard.
Evans moves up to third in the overall standings, 41 points behind Rovanpera who leads the way with 139 points after seven rounds of the 13 race WRC calendar.
Thierry Neuville is second having won the weekend’s final bonus-point power stage despite eighth place on the rally after a broken front-left suspension on his Hyundai.
The Belgian has 102 points while Evans, who won round four in Croatia, has 98 points, one more than eight-time world champion Ogier and Ott Tanak, who finished the Safari Rally in sixth after two-wheel change stops.
Round eight is Rally Estonia, which runs from 20-27 July.
Meanwhile, the dust may have barely settled on the Safari Rally’s return to the World Rally Championship calendar after a 19- year absence but host nation Kenya is already planning for its future.
The country’s initial agreement with motorsport’s world governing body, the FIA, is a deal to host the event, which ended on Sunday, until 2023.
Kenya’s President Uhuru Kenyatta is confident that the deal can be extended.
“We have agreed with the (FIA) as well as the World Rally Championship (WRC) to continue hosting the safari in Kenya until 2026,” he announced during the post-race awards ceremony.
The FIA is yet to comment on the future of the Safari Rally beyond 2023.
One man who wants the race to return as a regular on the calendar is no less than France’s seven-time world champion Sebastien Ogier, who won this year’s rally after three tough days of driving.
“The WRC needs diversity and I think it is nice this weekend was definitely entertaining,” he said after his victory.
The 2021 Safari Rally certainly lived up to its reputation as one of the toughest races on the calendar with the rough terrain taking its toll on both man and machine. www.bbc.com