Elfyn Evans and Scott Martin have become the first British crew to win the legendary Safari Rally for more than 20 years with a gruelling victory on last weekend’s predictably punishing event.

Not since 2002 – when Colin McRae and Nicky Grist triumphed for the third time – has the National Anthem been played at the culmination of the African classic, and Evans’ second successive win of the season has extended his lead at the front of the 2025 WRC title race.

After the first three of 14 rounds, the Welshman has now established a sizeable 36 point advantage over defending champion Thierry Neuville – the largest championship lead ever recorded at this stage of a WRC campaign.

His latest success came after four attritional days of timed sections largely set on rough tracks deep in Kenya’s unforgiving Great Rift Valley – a very different scenario to the WRC’s previous round on the snows of chilly Sweden. While rivals wilted in the brutal conditions, Evans barely put a wheel wrong to bring his Toyota GR Yaris home to a famous victory.

“It’s amazing to have won this rally ­­– the Safari Rally is a special event to win,” said a delighted, and relieved, Elfyn. “It’s been a massively demanding weekend, probably the most extreme Safari we’ve seen since we’ve been coming here, and I’m very happy at the end of it.”

There was further British happiness in Kenya, too, with Gus Greensmith finishing seventh overall and claiming WRC2 honours in his Skoda Fabia.

Evans, however, wasn’t the only smiling Briton stretching his World Championship lead over what was yet another impressive weekend for home grown talent on the international motorsport stage.

Six thousand miles away in Shanghai, Lando Norris finished second in the Chinese Grand Prix to edge further ahead of arch-rival Max Verstappen in the Formula 1 World Championship. Moreover, with George Russell in third and Oliver Bearman in eighth, there were three British drivers in the F1 points.

In addition, earlier in the weekend, Sir Lewis Hamilton won Saturday’s shorter Sprint Race – his first success since joining Ferrari.

Along with Hamilton, Alisha Palmowski was another impressive British winner in Shanghai – she took maximum advantage of the reverse grid race to score her maiden F1 Academy win in what was just her second outing in the all-female series.

“It was the happiest I’ve ever been,” admitted the 18-year-old who represents Red Bull Racing in the F1 Academy. “I was so relieved to see the chequered flag.”

Like Evans, Martin, Norris, Russell and Bearman before her, Palmowski is a current member of the Motorsport UK Academy, the initiative established to help this country’s brightest young athletes fulfil their full potential and inspire others to follow in their wheel-tracks.