Elfyn Rhys Evans (; born 28 December 1988) is a Welsh professional rally driver. He has competed full-time in the World Rally Championship since 2014, originally for M-Sport Ford, and since 2020 for Toyota Gazoo Racing. He is the reigning world drivers' champion having won the 2026 World Rally Championship, making him the first Welshman to win the drivers' championship, and the first British driver to win the drivers' championship since Richard Burns in 2001. Evans was also runner-up in 2020, 2021, 2023, 2024 and 2025. Scott Martin has been his co-driver since 2019.
Rally career
Early years Born in Dolgellau, Evans is the son of 1996 British Rally Championship Champion and former WRC driver Gwyndaf Evans. He is sponsored by the family's Ford motor dealership, first established by his great-grandfather in Dinas Mawddwy, renamed to Gwyndaf Evans Motors in 1983."About GEM" , Gwyndaf Evans Motors
Evans began his professional career in 2007, driving a Group N production-car-class Ford Fiesta in the Ford Fiesta Sporting Trophy. He also competed in that year's Rally GB in Wales.FSTUK: Q&A: Elfyn Evans – EXCLUSIVE. | Rally UK Features 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.
Evans's 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. After Nasser Al-Attiyah was forced to withdraw because of commitments in Qatar, Evans was asked to compete in the Rally Italy in Sardinia in a Ford Fiesta World Rally Car. Despite competing in a WRC car for the first time with no pre-event testing, Evans finished sixth overall.
M-Sport Ford (2014–2020)
2014: First full WRC season
Evans and co-driver Daniel Barritt were signed by M-Sport for the 2014 season to drive a Ford Fiesta WRC, partnering veteran driver Mikko Hirvonen. Their best results were fourth at Mexico and Germany, with one power stage victory in Germany.
2015: Second full WRC season Evans and Barritt continued to partner for the 2015 season. The crew scored two podiums, finishing seventh in the overall standings. Their best result was second in Corsica, with 43.10 seconds behind rally winner Jari-Matti Latvala after losing the lead on Saturday's final stage.
2016: Demotion to WRC-2 and British Rally Championship title In November 2015, M-Sport announced its decision to drop Evans to WRC-2 and replace him with French driver Eric Camilli. Teaming up with co-driver Craig Parry in a Ford Fiesta R5, Evans scored three wins at Monte Carlo, Sweden and Tour de Corse, placing second in the WRC-2 Driver's Championship. He also contested the 2016 British Rally Championship in a DMACK-backed crew with Max Vatanen, driving the Ford Fiesta R5. Having won five out of seven races, Evans was eventually crowned the BRC champion.
2017: Return to M-Sport and first home victory
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 minute's 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 victory, 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 went on to finish the championship in fifth place.
Toyota Gazoo Racing (2020–present)
2020
Evans would later repeat the success he found in Wales with a second career victory in the 2020 Rally Sweden, during his first season with Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT, where he led the rally despite adverse weather conditions which forced the organisers to abridge the event to just nine stages. This marked his first win in Sweden, his first rally win for Toyota, and the first British driver to win the event. His victory in Sweden also allowed him to lead the points standings in the WRC driver's championship for the first time in his career. He eventually finished the year in second position in the Covid-abbreviated championship, helped by a second rally win of the season in the 2020 Rally Turkey. He finished the season eight points behind champion Sébastien Ogier, and nine points ahead of Ott Tänak, who finished third.
2021 During the 2021 World Rally Championship, his second season with Toyota, Evans won two further WRC events, in Portugal and Finland, and finished in second position in five others. He remained in contention for the title until the final rally of the season, but finished that event in second position to championship winner and Toyota teammate Ogier with only a 0.6-second time difference. For the second year in a row, Evans finished the championship in second position, 23 points behind Ogier and 31 points ahead of third-placed Thierry Neuville.
2022 During the 2022 World Rally Championship, his third season with Toyota, teammate Kalle Rovanperä secured the drivers' championship title. Evans did not secure any wins this season, but with four podium finishes, ended the championship in fourth position. Evans contributes his dry spell in 2022 to not adapting to the new hybrid cars introduced at the start of the season, admitting others adapted better, but he was determined to improve for the 2023 season with hopes to challenge for the title.
2023 The 2023 World Rally Championship saw a return to glory for Evans, securing three rally wins, in Croatia Rally, Rally Finland and Rally Japan, in order to secure the runner-up spot behind teammate and championship winner Kalle Rovanperä.
2024 The 2024 World Rally Championship saw Evans pick-up another runners-up spot, behind Thierry Neuville who had just secured his first drivers championship, Evans took his first and only win of the season in the closing round at 2024 Rally Japan taking the championship runner-up spot away from Ott Tänak who retired. This marked Evans fourth time as the WRC drivers' championship runner-up.
2025 The 2025 World Rally Championship brought on new regulations that removed the hybrid systems that had only just been introduced in 2022. This was a change that Evans had previously attributed to a slump in form; he had previously excelled with the non-hybrid Toyotas of 2020 and 2021, mounting championship battles with 8-time World Rally Champion Sebastian Ogier in both years, which proved a positive outlook for Evans's possible championship challenge for the 2025 season. Evans went on to lead the championship for majority of the season, seeing his lead whittled away by Sebastian Ogier, who clinched the title at the final event in Saudi Arabia. Runner-up once again to the now nine-time world champion.
2026: First World Rally Championship title Evans was officially announced as a driver for the 2026 World Rally Championship season on 10 November 2025. Toyota remains the car to beat in 2026 but Evans faces serious competition in new teammate Oliver Solberg who is replacing Kalle Rovanperä, being a main contender for the World Championship in his first full season for Toyota in Rally 1. Evans put up a strong effort in the first half of the 2026 season, with 5 podiums and 2 wins.
After Oliver Solberg went off the road on the final stage of the 2026 Rally Italia Sardegna, Evans was declared the 2026 World Rally Champion.
WRC victories # Event Season Co-driver Car 1 73. Dayinsure Wales Rally GB 2017 2017 Daniel Barritt Ford Fiesta WRC 2 68th Rally Sweden 2020 Scott Martin Toyota Yaris WRC 3 13. Marmaris Rally of Turkey 2020 Scott Martin Toyota Yaris WRC4 54° Rally de Portugal 2021 Scott Martin Toyota Yaris WRC5 70th Rally Finland 2021 Scott Martin Toyota Yaris WRC6 47th Croatia Rally 2023 Scott Martin Toyota GR Yaris Rally17 72nd Rally Finland 2023 Scott Martin Toyota GR Yaris Rally18 8th Rally Japan 2023 Scott Martin Toyota GR Yaris Rally19 9th Rally Japan 2024 Scott Martin Toyota GR Yaris Rally110 72nd Rally Sweden 2025 Scott Martin Toyota GR Yaris Rally111 73rd Safari Rally 2025 Scott Martin Toyota GR Yaris Rally112 73rd Rally Sweden2026 Scott MartinToyota GR Yaris Rally113 11th Rally Japan2026 Scott MartinToyota GR Yaris Rally1
Results WRC results Year Entrant Car 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 Points 2007 Elfyn Evans Ford Fiesta ST MON SWE NOR MEX POR ARG ITA GRE FIN GER NZL ESP FRA JPN IRE GBR42 NC 0 2011 Elfyn Evans Ford Fiesta R2 SWE MEX POR JOR ITA ARG GRE FINRet GER AUS FRA16 ESP GBRRet NC 0 2013 Qatar M-Sport WRT Ford Fiesta RRC MON SWE MEX POR23 ARG GRE 12th 20 Ford Fiesta RS WRC ITA6 Ford Fiesta R5 FINRet GER6 AUS FRA11 ESPRet GBR8 2014 M-Sport WRT Ford Fiesta RS WRC MON6 SWERet MEX4 POR22 ARG7 ITA5 POL35 FIN7 GER4 AUS8 FRA6 ESP14 GBR5 8th 81 2015 M-Sport WRT Ford Fiesta RS WRC MON7SWE6MEX4ARG3POR64ITA4POLRetFIN12GER6AUS9FRA2ESP34GBR6 7th 89 2016 M-Sport WRT Ford Fiesta R5 MON8 SWE9 MEX ARG17 POR30 ITA POL13 FIN11 GER CHNC FRA11 ESP GBRWD AUS 21st 6 2017 M-Sport WRT Ford Fiesta WRC MON6 SWE6 MEX9 FRA21 ARG2 POR6 ITARet POL8 FIN2 GER6 ESP7 GBR1 AUS5 5th 128 2018 M-Sport Ford WRT Ford Fiesta WRC MON6 SWE14 MEXRet FRA5 ARG6 POR2 ITA14 FIN7 GER25 TUR12 GBR20 ESP3 AUS6 7th 80 2019 M-Sport Ford WRT Ford Fiesta WRC MONRet SWE5 MEX3 FRA3 ARGRet CHL4 POR5 ITA4 FINWD GER TURWD GBR5 ESP6 AUS 5th 102 2020 Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT Toyota Yaris WRC MON3 SWE1 MEX4 EST4 TUR1 ITA4 MNZ29 2nd 114 2021 Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT Toyota Yaris WRC MON ARC CRO POR ITA KEN EST BEL GRE FIN ESP MNZ 2nd 207 2022 Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 MON SWE CRO POR ITA40 KEN EST FIN BEL GRE NZL ESP JPN 4th 134 2023 Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 MON4 SWE5 MEX3 CRO1 POR ITA4 KEN3 EST4 FIN1 GRE CHL EUR JPN 2nd 216 2024 Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 MON SWE KEN CRO POR ITA POL LAT FIN GRE CHL EUR JPN 2nd 210 2025 Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 MON SWE KEN ESP POR ITA GRE EST FIN PAR CHL EUR JPN SAU 2nd 289 Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 MON SWE KEN CRO ESP POR JPN GRE EST FIN PAR CHL ITA 1st 243 Season still in progress.
WRC Academy results