Elfyn Evans

Welsh rally star and multiple WRC runner-up

via Wikipedia: Elfyn Evans · see source

Elfyn Rhys Evans (born 28 December 1988) is a Welsh professional rally driver. He has competed full-time in World Rally Championship since 2014, originally for M-Sport Ford and currently for Toyota Gazoo Racing since 2020. Evans was runner-up in the drivers' championship in 2020, 2021, 2023, 2024 and 2025, with a total 12 wins and 48 podiums. Scott Martin has served as his co-driver since 2019.

Quick Facts

Full name: Elfyn Rhys Evans
Born: 28 December 1988
Birthplace: Dolgellau, Wales
Nationality: GBR British
Years: 2007, 2011, 2013–present
Teams: M-Sport World Rally Team; Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT
Races: 163
Championships: 0

Lore & Background

The son of 1996 British Rally Championship Champion and former WRC driver Gwyndaf Evans, he is sponsored by the family Ford motor dealership in Dolgellau, first established by his great-grandfather in Dinas Mawddwy, renamed to Gwyndaf Evans Motors in 1983. 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. 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' 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. To his surprise, he was then asked to compete on the Rally Italy in Sardinia in a Ford Fiesta World Rally Car after Nasser Al-Attiyah was forced to withdraw because of commitments in Qatar. Despite having never competed on the event before, using Nasser's co-driver, competing in a WRC car for the first time and with no pre-event testing, Evans finished sixth. Evans switched to M-Sport for the 2014 season to drive a Ford Fiesta WRC as the teammate of veteran Mikko Hirvonen. His best results have been fourth at Mexico and Germany. The driver scored two podiums in 2015, finishing seventh in the overall standings. M-Sport dropped Evans to the WRC-2 in 2016. Driving a Ford Fiesta R5, scoring wins at Monte Carlo, Sweden and Tour de Corse.

Reader's Guide

Elfyn Evans is a Welsh rally driver who has been a consistent championship contender since joining Toyota in 2020. He has finished runner-up in the drivers' championship five times (2020, 2021, 2023, 2024, 2025). His career highlights include winning the 2017 Wales Rally GB (his first WRC victory), the 2020 Rally Sweden, and multiple wins in subsequent seasons. He is known for his battles with Sébastien Ogier and his ability to perform under pressure.

Did You Know?

Evans won the 2017 Wales Rally GB, becoming the first Welsh driver and the first British driver to win that event since Richard Burns in 2000.
Evans' first WRC win came at the 2017 Wales Rally GB, driving a DMACK-shod Ford Fiesta.