WRC2 Championship leader Elfyn Evans faces an uncertain future after last weekend’s 2016 Rally Finland could have been his last in a World Rally Car.
A strong start to the 2016 WRC2 season was rewarded with wins in Monte-Carlo and Sweden, Evans dropped down from the main World Rally Championship category to WRC2 after two seasons there. He is now two points ahead of his nearest rival Teemu Suninen in the WRC2 standings.
The Welshman has no more outings scheduled for the rest of the season despite finishing third in Rally Finland. “I have no further planned rallies so as it stands this is my last one. I’m waiting for some more opportunities. I’m not the one that is making the decisions. All I have to do is keep my head down, carry on and hope it will come good in the end.” Evans told WRC.com.
Evans is working hard to secure a drive for a WRC team for 2017, but his quest for a drive next year has reached a crossroads. Evans added “It’s not a case of going to hire a car. I have never been able to do that in my career; I don’t have the funding to do that. It will be a case of finding whatever I can. I will work hard on securing that and hopefully something will come.”
Evans and co-driver Craig Parry’s next rally is the British Rally Championship’s Ulster Rally on 19-20 August. M-Sport’s Managing Director Malcolm Wilson OBE said “Elfyn and Craig (Parry, co-driver) have driven very well this year and are hungry to get back behind the wheel of a World Rally Car. At the moment, however, the focus is on securing the best possible result in both the British Rally Championship and WRC2 series.
“They’ll contest the Ulster Rally in two weeks’ time, after which we’ll assess both championships and work out which events will give them the best chance of a strong result.”
