Elfyn Evans failed to gain momentum at the World Rally Championship (WRC) round in Sweden and had no chance of a podium finish. The Welshman struggled with the balance of his Toyota Yaris. Evans hopes Sweden was a blip and it’s not a structural problem with the Japanese.
Evans finished just fifth after a difficult rally on snow and ice in Sweden, 1m24s behind winner Ott Tänak in the M-Sport Ford Puma. Evans was surprised by the difficulties, having been fighting for victory in Sweden last year.
The season opener in Monte Carlo was encouraging, where Evans was on course for the podium for a long time, showed strong pace and even had chances to win before retiring. The Toyota worked, but a puncture threw the Welshman back in the first race of the 2023 season. This shows that Sweden was an exception and that Toyota actually has a good package.
Does Toyota hit back in Mexico?
The third round of the season takes place in Mexico in March, where the drivers can expect a typical gravel rally. Evans is confident he can attack there again to have a say in the 2023 world title fight. After two races, the Toyota driver is in fourth place overall, twelve points behind Tänak.
“At least it’s better than last year, not in terms of performance, but at least I’m taking something from here,” said Evans after the disappointing Rally Sweden. “That’s better than nothing and at the end of the day it could have been worse. Relatively speaking, the pace of the cars has changed over the past twelve months, which is why we wouldn’t have been faster had we used last year’s car.”
Vehicle balance was responsible for the failure, according to Evans. “I was struggling to find the confidence and that’s all what a fast rally is about,” he said. “If a driver doesn’t have that, it’s going to be damn difficult. I just hope it’s something that’s unique to this event. I’ve never felt so uncomfortable in this car on gravel.”
Latvala also sees Evans as a duty
Toyota team boss Jari-Matti Latvala not only sees the car as a duty, but also its driver. “We know that Elfyn is a fast driver, but he can also be very sensitive when it comes to set-up,” says the former rally driver. “If the car doesn’t run the way he wants it to, he has trouble getting the maximum out of it.
Those victories in the 2023 WRC season so far have gone to Toyota with Sebastien Ogier in Monte Carlo and Ott Tänak with M-Sport-Ford in Sweden. Current champion Kalle Rovanperä is still without a win, but is second in the overall standings ahead of Thierry Neuville in the Hyundai. Evans expects a balanced season among the manufacturers.
“It’s not a big surprise to me because both M-Sport and Hyundai have had strong rallies in the past year and I think we’ll be like that again this year,” said Evans. “We saw in Monte Carlo how strong Toyota was and I’m sure we’ll see a big fight like we’ve had in the past four to five years.”