Llandudno is gearing up to make history. For the first time ever in mainland Britain, the spectacle of world championship motor sport will be seen on closed sections of public roads when the FIA World Rally Championship comes to town. The highlight of this year’s Dayinsure Wales Rally GB (4-7 October) is sure be Sunday […]

This time 12 months ago Elfyn Evans was on the verge of making motor sport history. By winning last year’s Dayinsure Wales Rally GB, Evans became not only the first British driver to win Rally GB for nearly 20 years but also the first Welsh driver ever to win a round of the FIA World Rally Championship. It was a huge result for British motor sport and the biggest ever for Welsh rallying. Understandably, the victory celebrations in Llandudno were pretty special.

You can’t measure the influence that the Twelfth Man has on a sportsperson or team, but there’s no doubt that fan power can certainly make something extraordinary happen. It did on last year’s Dayinsure Wales Rally GB, when a group of Elfyn Evans supporters got together via Twitter and created Elfyn’s Corner – and from there witnessed the M-Sport Ford driver march to his maiden FIA World Rally Championship victory. Elfyn’s Corner was the brainchild of Phil Duke and Sam Walker, who just wanted to bring Evans fans together to show their support of Britain’s top rally driver on home soil. Together with Peter Jones, Steve Taylor and Lee (such is the informal way Elfyn’s Corner was organised over the internet, nobody knows Lee’s surname), they began to put their plans into place. Despite none of them having contacts at Wales Rally GB or within the FIA World Rally Championship, it all came together very quickly – thanks to the help of WRGB official Terry Jones and the encouragement of the event.

Elfyn Evans finished 12th on Rally Turkey after showing what a magnificent team player he is by sacrificing a great comeback result to help his team-mates Sébastien Ogier/Julien Ingrassia keep their FIA World Rally Championship title hopes alive. Evans’ hope of victory vanished on Friday when he hit a massive rock in his M-Sport Ford Fiesta WRC on SS6 and broke the car’s suspension. Co-driven by Dan Barritt, he returned under the Rally 2 rules on Saturday and, not for the first time this year, showed what could have been by working his way back up to seventh after a stunning performance saw him set second fastest time on stages 11, 12 and 13.

You’d think that all the bad luck that Elfyn Evans has suffered in this year’s FIA World Rally Championship must be coming to an end soon, but today’s run in Rally Turkey proves that it hasn’t yet finished dishing out the punishment. On what should have been a good opening day for him – favourable road position, new stages for everyone, challenging conditions he loves – a string of misfortune eventually saw him and co-driver Dan Barritt park their M-Sport Ford Fiesta WRC two stages from the end of the day. Having successfully completed the opening spectator stage last night, stopping the clocks in 10th place, just 4.3 seconds off the lead, Rally Turkey started to unravel on the first stage this morning, when the intercom packed in and Evans had to drive blind.

Whether it is the FA Cup, Ryder Cup, America’s Cup, Webb Ellis Cup or the Ashes, Britain is famous around the globe for its iconic and inspirational sporting trophies. British motorsport, too, is blessed with some magnificent awards. The Royal Automobile Club Tourist Trophy with its 18 carat gold figure of Hermes has an unrivalled heritage while the gold plated, solid silver British Grand Prix Trophy is coveted by all Grand Prix drivers, not least Lewis Hamilton.

Elfyn Evans has never contested Rally Turkey before, and the Dolgellau driver is hoping that starting eighth on the rough, rocky and unfamiliar roads will play to his advantage. It’s the first time that the FIA World Rally Championship has been to Turkey since 2010, but now it’s a completely different event, as it has moved from its previous base in Kemer, close to Antalya, to the Mediterranean port city and holiday resort of Marmaris. Crews have written new pacenotes from scratch during the low-speed recce, and with no pre-event testing allowed in Turkey, Evans will have the extra security of seven cars running ahead of him to find any unexpected hazards when they attack the gravel stages at full speed for the first time. Co-driven by Daniel Barritt, Evans won’t be holding back however, as a good result in his M-Sport Ford Fiesta WRC is important as he tries to end a frustrating season with a flourish. With just four rounds remaining, the 29-year old Welshman has matched his team-mate, five-time world champion Sébastien Ogier, on speed, but bad luck, punctures and mistakes have cost him good results, with just second place in Portugal back in May an indication of what might have been.

Next month’s Dayinsure Wales Rally GB (4-7 October) will feature a star-studded line-up after the event organiser, International Motor Sports, confirmed it has received a world class entry for Britain’s round of the FIA World Rally Championship. Entries closed late last week, with an outstanding field of 60 International cars representing 19 nations lining up to compete against-the-clock on an exciting new-look route featuring 23 gruelling special stages. The entry list is topped by the world championship winning M-Sport Ford World Rally Team starring last year’s winner Elfyn Evans and also includes another Welsh driver, Matt Edwards. This year’s eagerly-awaited Wales Rally GB also features the final two rounds of the Prestone MSA British Rally Championship – a title race which Edwards is hoping to win in Wales having dominated the 2018 series to date.

The intrepid stars and superfast cars of the FIA World Rally Championship will make a spectacular return to the UK when the 2018 Dayinsure Wales Rally GB blasts off under the floodlights at the Tir Prince Raceway on the evening of Thursday 4 October. Introduced last year, the innovative new Visit Conwy Tir Prince curtain […]

The dramatic battle for this year’s FIA World Rally Championship has reached fever pitch as the series heads for a spectacular showdown in the legendary Welsh forests. With Estonian ace Ott Tänak scoring back-to-back wins in Finland and Germany, a titanic three-way tussle is in prospect when the WRC arrives on these shores next month for Dayinsure Wales Rally GB (4-7 October).

Elfyn Evans was unlucky to crash out of Rally Germany yesterday, after drifting wide on a corner and putting his M-Sport Ford Fiesta WRC into a field. The 29-year old Dolgellau driver had been fourth after Friday’s opening full day of competition, but slipped to seventh after being overtaken by Jari-Matti Latvala (Toyota) on SS8, Dani Sordo (Hyundai) on SS9 and Esapekka Lappi (Toyota) on SS10. Going into SS11, the four drivers were separated by just 12 seconds – but two miles into the 7.6 mile Römerstrasse test, Evans hit some gravel and ran slightly wide going through an innocuous looking right hand corner and understeered into a field.

Elfyn Evans is enjoying a fantastic high-speed and faultless run so far on Rally Germany, completing the first full day of action in fourth position in his M-Sport Ford Fiesta WRC. Having finished last night’s short opening superspecial in 20th place, Evans and co-driver Dan Barritt made rapid progress up the leaderboard over today’s six vineyard stages. Ninth after SS2, sixth after SS3 and fourth after SS5, the Dolgellau driver has been on sensational form. In a close fight for position, Evans finished Friday’s stages just 10.4 seconds behind FIA World Rally Championship leader Thierry Neuville (Hyundai), one second ahead of Jari-Matti Latvala (Toyota) and 37.8 seconds off the overall Rally Germany leader Ott Tänak (Toyota).