The Estonian is 1:57.4 behind first-place man, Toyota driver Elfyn Evans (Wales), after 16 stages.

Tänak was fifth in the season-opening Monte Carlo Rally and then improved by one place at last month's Rally Sweden.

Kenya is the first gravel rally of the season, characterized by the spring rainy season and rocky conditions replete with stunning wildlife coming near to, and sometimes even traversing, the course.

This year's race so far has already seen drivers come to grief at times, including Tänak and co-driver Martin Järveoja.

The 2019 world champion has never won in Kenya and has only reached the podium once, in 2021. The previous four races have all been won either by Finland's Kalle Rovanperä or veteran eight-time world champion Sébastien Ogier, both with Toyota.

Tänak was third in Wednesday's shakedown run, one place behind his teammate and 2024 world champion, Thierry Neuville (Belgium).

He then went on to take the lead on Thursday, the first proper day of full stages, but dropped to third after technical issues on Friday despite winning four stages and initially building a 24.4-second lead over Evans.

In the afternoon, Tänak added another stage win to his tally before suffering a broken drive shaft and tire failure, which caused him to drop 55.4 seconds behind the new leader, Evans.

On Saturday morning, overall leader Evans handled the muddy and slippery road conditions better than most, extending his lead over his closest competitors, Rovanperä and Tänak.

Tänak posted the fourth-best time on the first two stages on Saturday, but finished the morning session in second place in the 13th stage, behind Rovanperä (Toyota) by one minute and 23 seconds in the overall standings.

However, double world champion Rovanperä's car suffered a puncture on that very stage, shrinking the gap to just 17 seconds by the service break.
After lunch, rain added further unpredictability, making conditions even tougher than in the morning runs.

Uh-oh ⚠️

Kalle Rovanperä has picked up suspension damage on Safari SS14

He's still got over a minute in hand over Ott Tänak in third – let's see what repairs he can make on the road section pic.twitter.com/ZomLf0Acvq

— DirtFish (@DirtFishRally) March 22, 2025

Tänak was next troubled by a faulty windshield defroster in the 14th stage, which reduced visibility to virtually zero, causing significant time loss. On the same stage, however, Rovanperä too came to grief again, damaging his car's suspension, and so dropping out of contention for top positions.

Thanks to the Finn's misfortune, Tänak moved up to second place in the overall standings after the stage 15, the penultimate stage of the day, and then rounded off the day nicely by winning the final 16th stage, where he outpaced his rivals by more than 20 seconds.

Evans took a more cautious approach in the afternoon stages, and still retains his lead over the Estonian, by nearly two minutes heading into the last day of racing.
Neuville had climbed to third place by day's end, trailing Tänak by two and a half minutes. Rovanperä's travails put him down to fifth place overall, behind teammate Takamoto Katsuta of Japan.

Sunday's schedule brings five more stages covering a total distance of 65.99 kilometers.

The first stage of the day starts bright and early, at 5:42 a.m. Estonian time (Kenya is one hour ahead of Estonia in time zones).

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