Toyota Gazoo Racing drivers Sébastien Ogier and World Rally Championship points leader Elfyn Evans have both been entered into the Hemicuda Rally in Belgium as preparation for Ypres Rally next month.
Ypres is a brand new event to the WRC and neither six-time champion nor Evans have competed there before in their careers. In fact, of the WRC drivers set to compete on November 19-22, only Hyundai’s Thierry Neuville and Craig Breen and M-Sport’s Esapekka Lappi have previous experience to draw from.
Along with the two factory Toyota Yaris WRC’s, Hyundai’s WRC2 drivers Ole Christian Veiby and Nikolay Gryazin will both also contest the Hermicuda Rally next weekend (October 24-25), as will Hyundai junior Grégoire Munster.
Speaking to DirtFish after taking third place on Rally Italy last week, Ogier hinted that some local rallies could be on the cards as he looked to learn a new kind of terrain.
“Well, I obviously watch, do a bit like the young generation you know, spend maybe a bit more time than I normally do in front of videos and try to learn it a little bit that way,” he said when asked how he would prepare for the WRC’s first ever visit to Belgium.
“We’re going to have some preparation for it, some tests, maybe coming to some event as well, so let’s see how we can prepare as best we can.”
Evans added to DirtFish: “Yeah I think we’re considering all the possibilities now this week to be honest. Obviously the testing is very limited so we have to look at all options. We’re hoping we can get as much mileage as possible and prepare as well as we can.”
Toyota team-mate Kalle Rovanperä won’t be in action, nor will junior driver Takamoto Katsuta’s whose Ypres Rally entry could be in doubt following two crashes in Sardinia.
