Elfyn Evans crashed Toyota’s Yaris Rally1 car close to Gap on Wednesday – the car won’t be repaired in time for Sébastien Ogier’s debut in the car on Thursday.
Evans was driving the 2022-specification Toyota in the French Alps to further the development of the hybrid Yaris ahead of January’s Monte Carlo Rally opener. Both Evans and co-driver Scott Martin were uninjured.
The team has yet to confirm the cancellation of Ogier’s test on Thursday, but DirtFish expects the car to be heading back to the team’s headquarters in Finland rather than to roads around Gap.
A Toyota statement read: “We can confirm our Rally1 test car went off the road this afternoon in France during a test day with Elfyn Evans and Scott Martin. They are both OK, and nobody was hurt. All of the safety systems worked exactly as they should.
“It’s too early to say as the situation is still being assessed. But we know these things can happen in tests and we don’t expect it to have a big impact either way.”
