Evans is aiming to 'put better results together' in 2023
Fourth in the overall standings was quite the climb down for Evans considering that, in 2020 and 2021, he came close to wrestling the drivers’ title from Toyota Gazoo Racing team-mate Sebastien Ogier at the deciding Rally Monza.
Stung by consecutive defeats, momentum on his side, and Ogier taking a back seat to partake only in a partial program for 2022 as he used the time to be with his family and race in the World Endurance Championship, the feeling was that Evans would not be the bridesmaid for a third time.
Surely the Welshman had all the tools in his chest to go one better and end the long wait for a first British-born World Rally champion – a 21-year wait that stretches all the way back to the late Richard Burns.
In the end it did not quite pan out the way some had predicted and many had hoped, with the new new-for-2023 Rally1 GR Yaris with its complex hybrid system proving a particularly big fly in the ointment for Evans.
A disappointing points haul at Rallye Monte-Carlo was followed by a no-score at Rally Sweden, and even though the title race was firmly decided in Kalle Rovanpera’s favour long before September’s Rally Greece, turbo failure in the Acropolis and a huge shunt a few weeks later in New Zealand did little to help Evans’ turnaround – or confidence.
At moments in 2022, there were glimmers of the Evans that people came to know in the last knockings of the World Rally Car-era, notably in Portugal, Kenya, Estonia and Belgium where he bagged runner-up results but it very much felt like an exercise in damage limitation.
But with a season’s worth of Rally1 driving and experimenting under his belt, and a lot of ground work carried out in the days sandwiched between Rally Japan and this week’s Rallye Monte-Carlo – which begins on Thursday evening with a run over ‘La Bollene-Vesubie – Col de Turini’ and then ‘La Cabanette – Col de Castillon’ – Evans is keen to make amends.
“The WRC off-season is always pretty short but I was still happy to take a bit of a break and now I feel ready to go into the new season,” he said. “Last year fell short of my own expectations personally, but we managed to make some progress and I’m hoping to be able to put better results together this season.
“The team is always working to evolve the car, and twelve months in to the Rally1 era we understand things a lot better. Like always it should be a competitive year but I definitely feel that we’re in a better place to challenge, and to fight for the title remains my goal.
“Rallye Monte-Carlo is a classic event and one that everyone wants to win. It’s always a big challenge, especially with the conditions, but it’s a challenge I enjoy and hopefully we can start the year with a positive result.”
Tears? Perhaps. Of joy? Absolutely! We will know better come Sunday lunchtime.
