How joining Finland’s exclusive club was Evans' true WRC coming-of-age

In the past 70 years, only eight drivers born outside of Scandinavia have conquered Rally Finland. Such is the unique challenge the spiritual home of rallying presents, that it has traditionally favoured drivers who grew up driving its fast gravel stages. Until 1990, when Carlos Sainz broke through for Toyota, every single iteration of the rally had been won by either a Finn or a Swede.

Now, it’s an exclusive club that also includes Welshman Elfyn Evans.

Evans’ talents have been known for some time, having won Rally GB as long ago as 2017 - and only missing out on his maiden World Rally Championship win earlier that year in Argentina by 0.7 seconds. Upon moving to Toyota for 2020, he won on his second start in Sweden and led the standings into the final round at Monza, only to fall at the final hurdle in a duel with seven-time champion team-mate Sebastien Ogier.

But the 32-year-old's drive to win Rally Finland last weekend was a real coming-of-age moment, and confirmation to anybody who still doubted it that Evans is one of the WRC’s elite forces.

Victories in Finland for non-Scandinavian drivers are scarce. Since Sainz's breakthrough triumph 31 years ago, only Didier Auriol, Markko Martin, Sebastien Loeb, Sebastien Ogier, Kris Meeke and Ott Tanak have broken the stranglehold. So it was perhaps fitting that, as Rally Finland celebrated its pantheon of great drivers to mark the event’s 70th anniversary, a new name should arrive in the winner’s circle, as Evans became only the second British winner after Meeke in 2016.

This anniversary edition of the ‘Grand Prix on Gravel’ will be etched in the event’s esteemed history as one of its great battles, as Evans emerged victorious from an intense tussle with Hyundai pair Tanak and Craig Breen. It was a maximum-attack sprint, where drivers parked their brains at the start-line and collected them at the finish.

Evans became only the second Brit to win in Finland after Kris Meeke in 2016

Photo by: Toyota Racing

It will also be remembered as perhaps Evans' most complete WRC drive yet, as he defeated two-time Finland winner and 2019 world champion Tanak by 14.1s. He won 10 of the 19 stages, setting up the victory with five consecutive stage wins beginning with Friday’s night run through Oittila, before a sweep of Saturday morning’s tests.

Evans is known as one of the more modest characters of the WRC paddock, but the now five-time WRC rally winner was forthright in admitting that the performance was his best to date.

“It is probably pretty high,” he said when asked by Autosport where the drive ranks in his career. “I think it is always difficult to beat the first win at home in Wales, but in terms of performance this probably ranks the highest to be fair.”

"I think you can feel more on the edge in rallies where you are less competitive actually when you are fighting the car. I felt really quite good and able to use the strengths of the car. We had to push hard, but it came quite naturally" Elfyn Evans

However, it was the manner of the victory that impressed most - and for a number of reasons. In recent events, Evans has struggled for confidence with his Yaris, having not scored a podium since Sardinia in June prior to Finland. If there is anywhere on the calendar where confidence in your machinery is imperative, then it’s on Finland's rollercoaster gravel roads.

The win also came after two years away from the land of 1000 lakes - before the cancelled 2020 edition, Evans had been forced to sit out the 2019 event through injury - although he had shown form on the event in 2017 by finishing second to Esapekka Lappi.

In elite sport, experts often talk about athletes operating in the ‘zone’, where actions become second nature. This was very much the case for Evans in Finland. Much as team-mate Kalle Rovanpera had destroyed the opposition on the Acropolis Rally last time out, Evans could push himself to another level while leaving his opponents behind. Being at one with the Yaris was not down to luck either, as his hard work in nailing the set-up during a pre-event test was totally vindicated.

“I perhaps wasn’t that confident coming into to it to be honest,” Evans admitted. “But we found a good feeling with the car quite early on, we improved that again for Saturday and we took it from there really.

Evans was 'in the zone' in Finland to earn his second win of the year

Photo by: Toyota Racing

“Four stage wins on Saturday morning really went towards the win. But from there on, it was about trying to fend Ott and Craig off as they were charging pretty hard. I’m happy we managed to do it - everything was just working inside the car and I had confidence with what the car was doing.

“It's funny, I think you can feel more on the edge in rallies where you are less competitive actually when you are fighting the car. I felt really quite good and able to use the strengths of the car. We had to push hard, but it came quite naturally.”

While Evans seemed to take the entire event in his stride and even took the bonus points for winning the power stage, Toyota team-mates Ogier and pre-event favourite Rovanpera were lacking confidence. Ogier was a below-par fifth, while Rovanpera crashed out on Saturday.

“It is true that I struggled on the Arctic Rally and Estonia [fast rallies] but on the flip side of that, we were okay in Sweden last year,” Evans explained. “Actually, I have changed a bit of the car - not the same as the Sweden car - but a bit more in the direction of balance I had there and that seemed to give me a lot more confidence. Basically I felt much happier behind the wheel and I think that is mostly where the speed came from.”

There were a few wild moments for Evans, but his handling of them was admirable and further outlined how in control he was throughout.

“There were a few slides and probably the biggest moment I had was on the Friday in the second or third stage,” he added. “It was at high speed and I just couldn’t get it turned in, but we actually rectified that through the set-up later on. When the going was good, the car seemed a little bit more under control.”

Evans may not have realised the magnitude of his achievement in the immediate aftermath, but his Hyundai rivals most certainly did.

“It seems as though Elfyn is perhaps not so proud of himself, but I think the pace was quite high and on-the-limit,” said Tanak. “We had the pace to come close to this, but when we came close he found another gear.”

Evans appeared to have an answer for whatever Tanak could throw at him, while his team-mates struggled

Photo by: Toyota Racing

Breen added: “Elfyn really found another level on Saturday as the afternoon progressed. Honestly I knew how much risk I was taking to keep up the rhythm. I arrived at a point where I was at the maximum amount of risk I could take before making mistakes.”

The feat was not lost on Evans’ Toyota boss and three-time Rally Finland winner Jari-Matti Latvala either.

“Elfyn can be really proud of what he did here,” said the 2010, 2014 and 2015 event conqueror. “He did an incredible job.

The blend of maturity and confidence required to prevail in such a close scrap with an on-form Tanak is testament to a driver operating at the top of his game

“Winning in Finland, that is something all drivers want to do. There are two rallies in the championship, with Finland and Monte Carlo, that are the classics and winning here is always some-thing special.”

Evans’ success has not only earned praise in rally circles but also the wider motorsport community, with McLaren Formula 1 star Daniel Ricciardo labelling his driving as “magical” on Twitter. In all seriousness, that’s not an exaggeration.

It may not have been quite as dominant as Meeke's in 2016, the third win of the Northern Irishman's career in a part-time campaign with Citroen coming by a remarkable margin of 29s over Latvala with third-placed man Breen 1m40s behind and at a record-breaking average speed to boot.

But Evans' victory is no less significant for it. The blend of maturity and confidence required to prevail in such a close scrap with an on-form Tanak is testament to a driver operating at the top of his game.

Beating Tanak and Breen in a titanic struggle underlined Evans credentials as one of the WRC's top dogs

Photo by: Toyota Racing

But perhaps of even greater significance, his Rally Finland victory could also be the turning point in the WRC title race, with Ogier’s points advantage slashed from 44 to 24 points with two events remaining. It remains a long shot given Ogier’s prowess on tarmac - the surface for Rally Spain and next month’s Monza finale - but Evans has at the very least given the Frenchman something to think about, and will be ready to pounce on the slightest opportunity that comes his way.

“It has definitely moved in the right direction but it is still a long, long way away,” Evans said. “We knew it was a very remote chance after [gearbox problems in] Greece and still it is not much better of a chance now still. But it is moving in the right direction.

“At the end of the day, we have to go to the next two events left on the calendar and give it our best shot and get the best results we can. That is all we can do.

“It is perhaps slightly more realistic as it will only take Seb to have a retirement and it would be all open. I can’t wish that and all we can worry about is our performance on the next two rallies.”

Evans faces a 24-point deficit to Ogier, with 60 points available in the two remaining rallies

Photo by: Toyota Racing