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Why starting first in WRC Rally Sweden is not a 'disaster' for Elfyn Evans
Starting first on the road in World Rally Championship snow and gravel rallies often presents a huge disadvantage, but in Sweden this weekend this could be significantly reduced, which is music to the ears of Toyota’s Elfyn Evans.
With Monte Carlo winner Sebastian Ogier contesting only a partial season, team-mate Evans, who finished second in last month’s curtain raiser, has now become the de-facto championship leader. It means the Welshman will now be tasked with starting Thursday’s opening stage and Friday’s seven stages first on the road.
Normally this would present a damage limitation exercise with Evans forced to sweep the roads of fresh snow offering up much cleaner and faster conditions for his rivals behind.
However, unusually near perfect conditions in the lead-up to the rally has turned this disadvantage potentially on its head. The lack of fresh snow means a hard ice base has formed on the road surface, creating perhaps the fastest conditions for those at the top end of the road order.
This was evident in Thursday’s shakedown stage with Evans fastest across the first run of the stage, before dropping to fourth after his third pass.
“It is not a disaster [being first on the road] but coming back through the stages after national rally cars have passed through will always be the biggest challenge. Let’s wait and see how it plays out,” said Evans.
“It is very early days, so I just need to focus on doing what we can here. We really don’t know how all the road order stuff is going to play out, so we just have to focus on driving well and that is it for now.”
Team-mate and two-time world champion Kalle Rovanpera, who will start third on the road, believes Evans has the best road position.
“If [the conditions] are like this, it is good to be first [on the road]. In shakedown, I think Elfyn, who was first, had the best place, but I don’t think it will be a big difference or at least I hope so. To be first [on the road] how it looks now is not bad."
When asked what result he would be satisfied with considering his road position, Evans, winner of the event in 2020, added: “It depends a lot of how the circumstances are, if we have the potential to be fastest being first on the road, then only winning will do.
“If it is difficult to be first on Friday afternoon then we have to be realistic and think about what is possible. Naturally you want the best result possible against your performance, it is hard to know what that will be.”
Rally Sweden kicked off on Thursday night with a blast through the 5.16km Umea Sprint stage.
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