Elfyn Evans

Elfyn Rhys Evans (born 28 December 1988) is a Welsh rally driver. He is currently teamed with Scott Martin and is competing for Toyota Gazoo Racing in the World Rally Championship.

Elfyn Evans
Evans in 2017
Born (1988-12-28) 28 December 1988
Dolgellau, Wales, UK
Nationality Welsh
Parent(s)
World Rally Championship record
Racing licence British
Active years2007, 2011, 2013–present
Co-driver Scott Martin
TeamsM-Sport
Toyota
Rallies89
Championships0
Rally wins2
Podiums11
Stage wins58
Total points560
First rally2007 Wales Rally GB
First win2017 Wales Rally GB
Last win2020 Rally Sweden

Career

The son of former WRC and Ford, SEAT, and MG driver, and 1996 British Rally Championship Champion Gwyndaf Evans, he is sponsored by the family Ford motor dealership in Dolgellau, first established by his great-grandfather in Dinas Mawddwy, renamed to Gwyndaf Evans Motors in 1983.[1]

Since 2007,[2] Evans has driven a Group N production-car-class Ford Fiesta in the Ford Fiesta Sporting Trophy. In 2007 he competed in Rally GB in Wales.[3]

In 2010 Evans won the British Junior Rally championship and was the winner of the UK Ford Fiesta Trophy series, also he won the Pirelli Star Driver Shoot-out after two days of tests and assessments at the Sweet Lamb rally complex in his native Wales, with a prize of a fully funded season in a Pirelli-backed Group N Subaru Impreza run by the championship-winning TEG Sport team — a prize worth in excess of £200,000.

In 2012, Evans secured the FIA World Rally Championship (WRC) Academy title, the R2 title in the British Rally Championship (BRC) and the UK Fiesta Sport Trophy. In addition, he won the end-of-year FST International Shootout. In 2013 he contested a programme of WRC events in a 4WD car - his prize for winning the WRC Academy - and worked at M-Sport, helping to develop rally cars for the WRC and other championships.

His 2013 season began with the first round of the Australian Rally Championship, the National Rally in Canberra, in which he retired early on the first day. He then drove a Fiesta RRC on the WRC Rally of Portugal, retiring with a transmission problem before starting the final day under Rally 2 regulations. To his surprise, he was then asked to compete on the Rally Italy in Sardinia in a Ford Fiesta World Rally Car after Nasser Al-Attiyah was forced to withdraw because of commitments in Qatar. Despite having never competed on the event before, using Nasser's co-driver, competing in a WRC car for the first time and with no pre-event testing, Evans finished sixth.

Evans switched to M-Sport for the 2014 season to drive a Ford Fiesta WRC as the teammate of veteran Mikko Hirvonen. His best results have been fourth at Mexico and Germany. The driver scored two podiums in 2015, finishing 7th in the overall standings. [4]

M-Sport dropped Evans to the WRC-2 in 2016. Driving a Ford Fiesta R5, he has scored wins at Monte Carlo, Sweden and Tour de Corse. Also with a Fiesta R5, he won the British Rally Championship with five wins in seven races.

Elfyn Evans and Daniel Barritt in their Ford Fiesta WRC for the 2018 Rallye Deutschland.

For 2017, Elfyn rejoined the M-Sport World Rally Team to drive the DMACK car. He started the year with sixth in Monte Carlo, setting several fastest stage times, and then repeated the performance in Sweden. After two disappointing rounds in Mexico and Corsica, at round five in Argentina, Evans benefited from misfortune for his rivals to end day one with a minutes lead. On day two, Evans struggled with punctures, a spin and a damaged diffuser, and saw his lead fall to just 11 seconds. On the final stage, it was a straight battle between him and Hyundai driver Thierry Neuville. He pushed early in the stage, but lost several seconds when he hit a bridge. He tried hard to make up the lost time, but in the end he lost his first victory by just 0.7 seconds to Neuville. In Finland, Evans was left to uphold team honors after a crash for teammate Sébastien Ogier and a puncture for Ott Tänak. He dutifully set consistent top three stage times and snatched second place on the last stage from Juho Hänninen, in what many journalists described as the best drive of his career so far. At the penultimate round on his home rally in Wales, Evans took advantage of his DMACK tyres, which were widely suited to the conditions, to take his first WRC win, the first for a Welsh driver, and the first for a British driver on Wales Rally GB since the late Richard Burns in 2000. He would finish the championship in fifth place.

Evans on his way to victory at the 2020 Rally Sweden.

Evans would later repeat his success in Wales with a second victory in the 2020 Rally Sweden, where he led the rally despite adverse weather conditions which forced the organisers to abridge the event to just nine stages. This marked his first win in Sweden, his first rally win for Toyota, and the first British driver to win the event.[5] His victory in Sweden also allowed him to lead the points standings in the WRC driver's championship for the first time in his career.

WRC victories
 #  Event Season Co-driver Car
1 73rd Wales Rally GB 2017 Daniel Barritt Ford Fiesta WRC
2 68th Rally Sweden 2020 Scott Martin Toyota Yaris WRC

Results

WRC results
Year Entrant Car 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 Pos. Points
2007 Elfyn Evans Ford Fiesta ST MON SWE NOR MEX POR ARG ITA GRE FIN GER NZL ESP FRA JPN IRE GBR
42		 NC 0
2011 Elfyn Evans Ford Fiesta R2 SWE MEX POR JOR ITA ARG GRE FIN
Ret		 GER AUS FRA
16		 ESP GBR
Ret		 NC 0
2013 Qatar M-Sport WRT Ford Fiesta RRC MON SWE MEX POR
23		 ARG GRE 12th 20
Ford Fiesta RS WRC ITA
6
Ford Fiesta R5 FIN
Ret		 GER
6		 AUS FRA
11		 ESP
Ret		 GBR
8
2014 M-Sport WRT Ford Fiesta RS WRC MON
6		 SWE
Ret		 MEX
4		 POR
22		 ARG
7		 ITA
5		 POL
35		 FIN
7		 GER
4		 AUS
8		 FRA
6		 ESP
14		 GBR
5		 8th 81
2015 M-Sport WRT Ford Fiesta RS WRC MON
7		 SWE
6		 MEX
4		 ARG
3		 POR
64		 ITA
4		 POL
Ret		 FIN
12		 GER
6		 AUS
9		 FRA
2		 ESP
34		 GBR
6		 7th 89
2016 M-Sport WRT Ford Fiesta R5 MON
8		 SWE
9		 MEX ARG
17		 POR
30		 ITA POL
13		 FIN
11		 GER CHN
C		 FRA
11		 ESP GBR
WD		 AUS 21st 6
2017 M-Sport WRT Ford Fiesta WRC MON
6		 SWE
6		 MEX
9		 FRA
21		 ARG
2		 POR
6		 ITA
Ret		 POL
8		 FIN
2		 GER
6		 ESP
7		 GBR
1		 AUS
5		 5th 128
2018 M-Sport Ford WRT Ford Fiesta WRC MON
6		 SWE
14		 MEX
Ret		 FRA
5		 ARG
6		 POR
2		 ITA
14		 FIN
7		 GER
25		 TUR
12		 GBR
20		 ESP
3		 AUS
6		 7th 80
2019 M-Sport Ford WRT Ford Fiesta WRC MON
Ret		 SWE
5		 MEX
3		 FRA
3		 ARG
Ret		 CHL
4		 POR
5		 ITA
4		 FIN
WD		 GER TUR
WD		 GBR
5		 ESP
6		 AUS
C		 5th 102
2020 Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT Toyota Yaris WRC MON
3		 SWE
1		 MEX
4		 EST TUR GER ITA JPN 2nd* 54*

* Season still in progress.

WRC Academy Results
Year Entrant Car 1 2 3 4 5 6 Pos. Points
2012 Elfyn Evans Ford Fiesta R2 POR
7		 GRE
1		 FIN
1		 GER
1		 FRA
1		 ESP
3		 1st 144

WRC-2 results
Year Entrant Car 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 Pos. Points
2013 Qatar M-Sport World Rally Team Ford Fiesta RRC MON SWE MEX POR
8		 ARG GRE ITA 7th 65
Ford Fiesta R5 FIN
Ret		 GER
2		 AUS FRA
2		 ESP
Ret		 GBR
1
2016 M-Sport Ford Fiesta R5 MON
1		 SWE
1		 MEX ARG
4		 POR
14		 ITA POL
2		 FIN
3		 GER CHN
C		 FRA
1		 ESP GBR AUS 2nd 120

ERC results
Year Entrant Car 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Pos Points
2016 DMACK British Rally Team Ford Fiesta R5 CAN IRE
Ret		 GRE AZO YPR EST POL ZLI LIE CYP NC 0
gollark: I suppose you could probably say something about how the economy was better when stuff was differentiated and stuff was made by individual craftsmen but that's stupid and would make no sense for silicon stuff.
gollark: You're also ferra.
gollark: I'm not sure about real estate, it's not like you can trivially swap 1km² of land somewhere for 1km² elsewhere.
gollark: I'm *guessing* your complaint is along the lines of "people need water → no trading of it allowed → commoditisation involves that" but I can only really guess.
gollark: Yes, but that means multiple things ish.

References
  1. "About GEM" Archived 27 September 2008 at the Wayback Machine, Gwyndaf Evans Motors
  2. "Rally champion's son takes wheel". BBC Wales. 3 March 2007. Retrieved 17 June 2008.
  3. FSTUK: Q&A: Elfyn Evans – EXCLUSIVE. | Rally UK Features
  4. "CAREER SUMMARY". Retrieved 10 April 2017.
  5. Brunsdon, Stephen. "Rally Sweden WRC: Dominant Evans wins on second start for Toyota". Autosport.com. Retrieved 17 February 2020.
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