Elfyn Evans

Verified Timeline

Lore & Background

Evans began his professional career in 2007, driving a Group N production-car-class Ford Fiesta in the Ford Fiesta Sporting Trophy. He also competed in that year's Rally GB in Wales. 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. Evans' 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.

In Their Own Story

At the penultimate round on his home rally in Wales in 2017, Evans took advantage of his DMACK tyres, which were widely suited to the conditions, to take his first WRC victory, 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 would later repeat the success he found in Wales with a second career victory in the 2020 Rally Sweden, during his first season with Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT, 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. 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. He eventually finished the year in second position in the Covid-abbreviated championship, helped by a second rally win of the season in the 2020 Rally Turkey. He finished the season eight points behind champion Sébastien Ogier, and nine points ahead of Ott Tänak, who finished third.

Reader's Guide

During the 2021 World Rally Championship, his second season with Toyota, Evans won two further WRC events, in Portugal and Finland, and finished in second position in five others. He remained in contention for the title until the final rally of the season, but finished that event in second position to championship winner and Toyota teammate Ogier with only a 0.6-second time difference. For the second year in a row, Evans finished the championship in second position, 23 points behind Ogier and 31 points ahead of third-placed Thierry Neuville. During the 2022 World Rally Championship, his third season with Toyota, teammate Kalle Rovanperä secured the drivers' championship title. Evans did not secure any wins this season, but with four podium finishes, ended the championship in fourth position. Evans contributes his dry spell in 2022 to not adapting to the new hybrid cars introduced at the start of the season, admitting others adapted better, but he was determined to improve for the 2023 season with hopes to challenge for the title. The 2023 World Rally Championship saw a return to glory for Evans, securing three rally wins, in Croatia Rally, Rally Finland and Rally Japan, in order to secure the runner-up spot behind teammate and championship winner Kalle Rovanperä. The 2024 World Rally Championship saw Evans pick-up another runners-up spot, behind Thierry Neuville who had just secured his first drivers championship, Evans took his first and only win of the season in the closing round at 2024 Rally Japan taking the championship runner-up spot away from Ott Tänak who retired. This marked Evans fourth time as the WRC drivers' championship runner-up, hoping to mount a championship challenge for the 2025 season. The 2025 World Rally Championship brought on new regulations that removed the hybrid systems that had only just been introduced in 2022. A change that Evans' had previously attributed to a slump in form, Evans' had previously excelled with the non-hybrid Toyotas of 2020 and 2021, mounting championship battles with 8-time World Rally Champion Sebastian Ogier in both years, which proved a positive outlook for Evans' possible championship challenge for the 2025 season. Evans' went on to lead the championship for majority of the season, seeing his lead whittled away by Sebastian Ogier, who clinched the title at the final event in Saudi Arabia. Runner-up once again to the now nine-time world champion.

Did You Know?

• Evans is the son of 1996 British Rally Championship Champion and former WRC driver Gwyndaf Evans.
• He won the Pirelli Star Driver Shoot-out in 2010, with a prize worth in excess of £200,000.
• Evans made his WRC car debut in 2013 at Rally Italy in Sardinia, finishing sixth with no pre-event testing.
• His first WRC victory came at Wales Rally GB in 2017, the first for a British driver there since Richard Burns in 2000.
• Evans has been runner-up in the drivers' championship five times: 2020, 2021, 2023, 2024, and 2025.