Elfyn Evans and co-driver Scott Martin started their third year driving for Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT no in a way as Evans wished, now he hopes to capitalise from that as the second round of FIA World Rally Championship is being held this weekend in Sweden.
On the season-opener of Rallye Monte-Carlo, Evans was part of the lead battle during most part of the rally before a small but costly mistake ended his chances of a strong result.
Last time WRC visited Rally Sweden in 2020, the Welshman won the rally and for this year he is hoping to repeat that result as he will be starting the Friday stages with a great road position but will also face new challenges as all of the stages are brand-new for the year when the rally have been moved to Umeå.
Credit: Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT
Evans is feeling comfortable for the rally as he has analysed the new stages from video footage provided by the rally organiser: “We didn’t start the year how we wanted to on the first rally, but the one small benefit is that our road position should be a bit better for Sweden. We want to capitalise on that as best as we can and, like always, do as well as possible.”
“With everything being so new there have been a lot of different things to try during our testing on snow and ice, but overall I’m feeling comfortable – although it is always hard to tell exactly how fast you are on this surface because things like traction vary depending on the conditions. We’ve also been looking through the videos of the stages provided by the organiser, and they look very fast in places but also with some very narrow and technical sections.”