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“I actually wished him to be a very good footballer, but it surely didn’t work out. There was completely no expectations in any way from my behalf, for him to ever develop into an expert driver. I’m very proud clearly, he’s surpassed my expectations a few years in the past and nonetheless going robust.”
The phrases are these of Gwyndaf Evans, who speaks with a beaming smile as he recounts how his son Elfyn has developed into Britain’s brightest hope to observe within the footsteps of world rally champions Colin McRae and Richard Burns.
The soccer profession could not have panned out, however soccer’s loss could be very a lot rallying’s acquire. The youthful Elfyn has thus far chalked up eight World Rally Championship wins, and this yr the manufacturing unit Toyota driver is as soon as once more firmly within the combat to assert rallying’s final prize.
Rising up in north-west Wales with a father that lit up the British rallying scene within the Eighties and Nineties, it was maybe inevitable that Elfyn would get the rallying bug, regardless of Gwyndaf’s efforts to steer him away.
“It was by no means the goal in any respect,” the 1996 British Rally Championship winner and runner-up on 4 additional events explains to Motorsport.com on the Goodwood Competition of Velocity. “However the extra we acquired concerned with him, the extra he wished to progress. Most likely I used to be fairly strict with him. I set some targets and he needed to obtain targets earlier than we’d transfer additional up or get additional help.
“However finally it paid off, as a result of he outdated my expectations and the extent of dedication. As a household and with motorsport, we prefer to preserve our ft on the bottom. We prefer to be regular folks and nonetheless do right this moment.”
Gwyndaf Evans in his prime was considered one of Britain’s foremost rally drivers, and previous to profitable the BRC title in 1996 completed fifth on the WRC’s RAC Rally in 1995
Photograph by: Motorsport Images
It comes as no shock that Elfyn’s earliest rally reminiscences are of his father, who additionally ran a household storage and drove a college bus to make a residing, grappling a Ford Escort RS2000 on Welsh gravel roads. However like many rising up on this period, it was a sure McRae that additionally made an impression.
“Clearly I adopted Dad competing from the start,” says Elfyn. “I might say in all probability the primary reminiscence is spectating Rally GB. I bear in mind being fairly younger and really seeing Colin McRae. I used to be ready to see Dad, however Colin was the primary automobile that got here into view with the Impreza at fully 90 levels, the previous tremendous spectacular. That is in all probability one of many first reminiscences.
“And I’ve a obscure reminiscence of sitting in a RS2000 round Boreham [Ford Motorsport’s base in Essex] and never having the ability to see something, however being jerked about within the belts. These can be two of the earliest reminiscences I’ve.”
“Dad is a fairly arduous employee, each within the enterprise and when it comes to the driving as properly. Clearly, I have been guided from him as to apply myself in that regard”
Elfyn Evans
As soon as it was clear Elfyn was to observe in his father’s wheeltracks, Gwyndaf actually offered a benchmark to study from. Other than his home prowess towards the likes of Alister McRae, Martin Rowe and Mark Higgins within the BRC, Evans Sr was capable of ruffle the feathers of the world’s finest on Rally GB. Sixth was his finest outcome within the well-known 1995 WRC title showdown. However as Elfyn recollects, the pair didn’t truly do lots of driving collectively.
“Clearly a few of his driving potential [has rubbed off] I might say, however rising up we did surprisingly little driver coaching collectively,” says Elfyn. “There was a yr in 2009 the place I did issues I should not have completed on the street, and I had this driving ban [for dangerous driving].
“However that was in all probability the yr I picked up and realized essentially the most, despite the fact that I did not do any driving myself. Dad was nonetheless doing a bit, and I sat with him on a couple of assessments and doubtless studied a bit extra, and that was in all probability the yr that I picked up extra from a driving perspective.
“I bear in mind being again in my first take a look at within the Fiesta after that yr away, and I might beat him right away. So, I’d clearly been finding out somewhat bit. In any other case, dad is a fairly arduous employee, each within the enterprise and when it comes to the driving as properly. Clearly, I have been guided from him as to apply myself in that regard, and that is in all probability taken me a very good step of the way in which.”
Elfyn Evans utilized himself to studying from his father and the finding out paid off by profitable the WRC Academy title in 2012
Photograph by: Motorsport Images
Gwyndaf chimes in: “I used to be over 40 earlier than he might beat me although”, earlier than explaining the second he realised that his son had the potential to develop into the pressure in rallying he’s right this moment.
“He wished to do the WRC Academy, which was an enormous dedication from myself,” remembers Gwyndaf. “I did a deal and I stated, we will discover sufficient finances to go and do three WRC rallies, Finland, France and the RAC in an R2 Fiesta [in 2011]. I stated ‘you are going to must show to me that you just’re adequate to have a dedication from me and sponsors to go and do the Academy the next yr’.
“We had lots of buddies and lots of assist, little doubt we couldn’t have completed it with out them. We went over to Finland, and we did a small rally, small take a look at, and I sat in with him. Actually, it blew my thoughts even then how fast he was and the way environment friendly he was behind the wheel. I might barely inform him something as a result of I used to be simply shocked. And now he has gone on and gained Finland [at WRC level] twice.
“Throughout that take a look at, a few of our Finnish buddies got here to me and so they stated ‘now we have been watching your son, he’s unbelievable’. And I believed ‘if that’s coming from Finnish rally lovers that know their stuff, then we have been heading in the right direction.’”
Elfyn was certainly heading in the right direction. In 2012 he gained the WRC Academy, the R2 title within the BRC and the UK Fiesta Sport Trophy. The next season he made his top-flight WRC debut, ending sixth in Sardinia for M-Sport. A primary podium arrived in Argentina in 2015 earlier than Evans performed a starring position in arguably M-Sport’s best day in 2017. He took a maiden win at his dwelling spherical in Wales because the British squad sealed the drivers’, co-drivers’ and producers’ crowns with Sebastien Ogier and Julien Ingrassia.
His best successes have come since becoming a member of Toyota in 2020. Evans has completed because the WRC runner-up in three of the previous 4 seasons and final yr grew to become the primary Brit to win the WRC’s holy grail, Rally Finland, for a second time.
By way of all of this, the father-son bond has remained robust and that relationship has even prolonged into an expert sense on WRC occasions. It is because Gwyndaf is a part of Elfyn’s trusty route be aware crew, alongside the latter’s former co-driver Daniel Barritt. The duo diligently move by way of the phases two hours earlier than they’re dwell, to move on any helpful adjustments of street situations earlier than Elfyn costs by.
Evans is now a two-time Rally Finland winner, turning into the primary Briton ever to win the WRC’s most fabled occasion twice
Photograph by: McKlein / Motorsport Images
Route be aware crews are a helpful a part of the modern-day WRC, given rallies are sometimes gained over seconds relatively than minutes. That is some extent Elfyn can attest, having been on the fallacious facet of a 0.6s defeat to 2021 title rival Ogier in Croatia. Any info that may be handed from route be aware crew to driver may be essential however, as Elfyn explains, Gwyndaf hasn’t simply landed this essential position simply by being his father.
“It has clearly been going fairly properly,” says Elfyn. “He places lots of vitality and I feel I might wrestle to seek out anybody else to do this.
“Clearly, he is within the place as a result of he does a very good job at it, not as a result of he is my dad. I preserve stressing that when folks ask; I am by no means going to seek out anyone to place as a lot vitality in that job as he does. When it comes to preparation, he does an identical stage of finding out the movies too.
“It’s feeding again any hazards, however with out slowing him down. That’s the tough bit”
Gwyndaf Evans
“We’re in excessive stage sport and like every other, we’re in search of all of the fantastic particulars and wish issues as correct as potential. It’s a difficult job, the place the phases are all the time evolving, and there is a component of anticipation should you’re operating a bit additional again on the street of what the automobiles in entrance will do.
“In the end, situations can change quite a bit in two hours. So in a world the place we would like all of the best info, best particulars, it is very arduous to get that proper. He can preserve his job for now,” Elfyn provides with a wry smile.
Laborious is certainly the operative phrase as Gwyndaf interjects to share simply how tough the position is just not solely in an expert capability however in an emotional sense given the recipient of the knowledge.
“It’s bloody tough, I can inform you,” he smiles. “It’s arduous graft and the strain is at 120%. But it surely’s so rewarding when he does properly.
Gwyndaf Evans has for a number of years labored to assist his son on route be aware crew duties
Photograph by: Toyota
“Mainly, about two hours earlier than the stage goes dwell we drive across the particular phases with Elfyn’s remaining model of the tempo notes. Dan reads the notes again to me and I’ll name out if there’s any gravel or mud, water and any hazards principally.
“It is one other set of eyes on the notes, though I can’t change a lot at that pace anyway. It’s feeding again any hazards, however with out slowing him down. That’s the tough bit; you don’t wish to say every part, since you don’t wish to gradual him down, however equally you don’t need him to go off the street.
“I might say it’s a huge position. We now have to consider that, as a result of clearly you want lots of power in that automobile. Individuals do not realise we begin at three within the morning and we do not get again till late at night time.”
Pushing the skilled side of this job to at least one facet, Gwyndaf merely needs the perfect for his son. Elfyn has already surpassed the achievements of his personal rally profession and, sitting simply 13 factors adrift within the title race with 5 rallies to go, has his sights firmly set on ending Britain’s two-decade look forward to a world rally champion.
Evans is in a three-way combat for the 2024 WRC title with Hyundai drivers Thierry Neuville and Ott Tanak
Photograph by: Toyota Racing
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