Elfyn Evans reflects on a 'mixed start' to the year
Elfyn Evans led the World Rally Championship (WRC) after the first six events of the previous season. This year, the Welsh driver finds himself in the same position and is determined to maintain his lead.
Evans has finished as runner-up five times, most recently losing the championship to Sebastien Ogier at the final rally in Saudi Arabia in 2025.
"We've been trying to fight for the title for a number of years now," said Evans.
"Last year was close, but not close enough. It's all to play for again at this stage."
The 36-year-old has started the 2026 season strongly, securing victory at Rally Sweden and achieving three additional podium finishes.
As the 14-race season nears its midpoint, Evans leads the championship by 12 points over his Toyota team-mate Takamoto Katsuta ahead of Rally Japan, scheduled for 28-31 May.
Gravel problems
Elfyn Evans (right) and co-driver Scott Martin have been WRC runners-up in 2020, 2021, 2023, 2024, and 2025.
Continuing his pursuit of a first world title, Evans recognizes the need to improve his performance on gravel surfaces.
Last season featured seven consecutive gravel rallies from May to September, and Evans' inability to win any of these events ultimately cost him the championship.
So far this season, there have been two gravel rallies: Evans retired on the third day of Safari Rally Kenya, finishing 13th overall, and later secured third place in Portugal.
Rally Japan will be the last tarmac event of the season, with the final seven rounds all contested on gravel.
"The dry gravel rallies were what we identified as perhaps the weakest point of our championships in the past," Evans explained.
"We've just had Rally Portugal and that seemed to go better.
So some steps forward made but of course still a lot of those events to come. And we'll have to wait and see how that goes."
Elfyn Evans' third place in Portugal marked the Toyota Gazoo Racing driver's 49th WRC podium.
As the championship leader, Evans will start first on the road at Rally Japan, which is advantageous on tarmac. However, this is not the case for gravel rallies, where the first car acts as a road sweeper, clearing loose stones and creating a cleaner, faster line for competitors starting later.
Extending his championship lead in Japan could potentially disadvantage Evans, as he may be required to open the road on several gravel rallies before the season concludes.
"As we know, the championship leader always has to open the road. And normally on a dry gravel rally that means that the road is being swept effectively, exposing harder ground and increasing grip for the later runners," Evans explained.
"What we saw last year was that we had a run of seven rallies in the mid to end of the season, and that really hampers the Championship leader and the opportunity there.
Of course, things are much tighter in the Championship this year at this stage than they were last year, so it is very likely that we'll see the lead of the Championship change hands numerous times during the course of these seven last rounds of the year.
But of course it will be more difficult for those leading the Championship to score well on those drag gravel runners."
Evans has never finished lower than fifth in Rally Japan.
He has enjoyed considerable success at Rally Japan in recent years, winning the event in 2023 and 2024, and finishing second last year.
Typically held in October or November, this year's Rally Japan has been moved to May.
"It's held at a different time of the year so it could be more difficult inside the car, a bit warmer inside the car, but also for the tyres and brakes, so it could be more of a challenge," Evans added.
"It's quite a technical rally and it's one that's been good to us in the past. But of course, that guarantees nothing for the future.
But it's a good event and a rally that really requires a lot of precision, very twisty, narrow roads, but that's the same for everyone."
