Winless in 2022, Elfyn Evans bounced back in some fashion this season after finally gelling with the Toyota GR Yaris Rally1. The Welshman scored three wins and took the title fight to team-mate Kalle Rovanpera, but conceded the championship to the Finn at the penultimate round.
Evans ended a season that included only one retirement on a high, his fine drive to victory in Japan securing Toyota its first WRC triumph on home soil and matching Rovanpera’s seasonal win tally in the process.
An impressive drive to Rally Finland victory was arguably the highlight, putting Evans alongside Finnish greats Ari Vatanen and Timo Salonen as a two-time event winner.
Evans is already being touted among the favourites to succeed Rovanpera as world rally champion next year after an impressive run to finish runner-up in 2023.
The statistics from this season make for compelling reading compared to 12 months ago, when he struggled to get to grips with the new Rally1 hybrid machines. Evans was comfortably the year’s most improved driver, scoring a whopping 82 points more than his 2022 tally (from the same number of events), helped by wins in Croatia, Finland and Japan. It’s fair to say Evans has now found the elusive confidence behind the wheel of the GR Yaris that he previously lacked.
Source: Autosport