Elfyn Evans’ technical trouble on Croatia Rally shakedown has been confirmed to be a turbo problem.
Evans only managed one pass of the shakedown stage on Thursday morning, and limped towards the end of the test with a clear technical issue.
But returning to service back in Zagreb, the Welshman wasn’t able to head back out and complete any more runs of the shakedown stage as the Toyota mechanics got to work diagnosing his sick GR Yaris Rally1.
World Rally Championship regulations require all Rally1 drivers to complete a minimum of three runs over shakedown, but Evans escaped any penalty from the stewards through force majeure.
Toyota wouldn’t elaborate on the nature of his problem when approached by DirtFish other than stressing it shouldn’t prohibit him from starting the rally on Friday, but the publication of a stewards document confirmed it was related to the turbo.
“Mr [Kaj] Lindström explained that car No.33 had a technical issue regarding the turbo during shakedown,” read the document.
“The car was recovered from the stage to the service park after 13:00 hrs and as the turbo had severe damages, the team had to check thoroughly also the engine to avoid further damages.
“Due to the late arrival of the car at the service park and following a long inspection on the engine, the crew of car No. 33 was not able to do the remaining two passages of the shakedown, which ended at 15:00 hrs.
“The stewards asked the FIA Deputy FIA Technical Delegate to confirm the statement of Mr. Lindström and the turbo failure was confirmed.”
Evans is scheduled to start Friday’s stages as the fifth car on the road.
