Elfyn Evans
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Elfyn Evans | |
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![]() Evans in 2014 | |
Born | |
Nationality | ![]() |
Father | Gwyndaf Evans |
World Rally Championship record | |
Active years | 2007, 2011, 2013–present |
Co-driver | Daniel Barritt |
Teams | M-Sport |
Rallies | 74 |
Championships | 0 |
Rally wins | 1 |
Podiums | 6 |
Stage wins | 34 |
Total points | 377 |
First rally | 2007 Wales Rally GB |
First win | 2017 Wales Rally GB |
Last win | 2017 Wales Rally GB |
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/aa/Ford_Fiesta_WRC_of_Elfyn_Evans_Rallye_Deutschland_2018.jpg/220px-Ford_Fiesta_WRC_of_Elfyn_Evans_Rallye_Deutschland_2018.jpg)
Elfyn Rhys Evans (born 28 December 1988) is a British rally driver from Wales who competes in the World Rally Championship.
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.
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.
WRC Victories
# | Event | Season | Co-driver | Car |
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | ![]() |
2017 | ![]() |
Ford Fiesta 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 | AUS | 11th* | 53* |
* 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 |
References
- ^ "About GEM", Gwyndaf Evans Motors
- ^ "Rally champion's son takes wheel". BBC Wales. 3 March 2007. Retrieved 17 June 2008.
- ^ FSTUK: Q&A: Elfyn Evans – EXCLUSIVE. | Rally UK Features
- ^ "CAREER SUMMARY". Retrieved 10 April 2017.
External links
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/4/4a/Commons-logo.svg/30px-Commons-logo.svg.png)