World Rally Championship rounds are coming thick and fast at the moment, and the drivers are no doubt saying the same thing about the stages.
But having navigated their way through WRC’s two fastest rallies, Estonia and Finland, they now face an entirely new challenge in the form of Ypres Rally Belgium.
There’s no flat-out, ridiculously high-speed, rollercoaster stages deep in the heart of West Flanders. Not at all.
The pace will be slower in Ypres, providing a more technical challenge that Elfyn Evans hopes he and his Toyota team are more on top of.
The world championship leaders struggled on the roads of Belgium last year, largely because none of its drivers had done the rally before.
Kalle Rovanperä was the best performing Toyota driver, claiming the last of the podium positions while team-mates Evans and Sébastien Ogier were fourth and fifth respectively.
But Evans believes the team understands its issues from last year, which could help them be more successful this time round.
“It’s interesting. It’s very different to what we’ve done with these cars before,” Evans explained to DirtFish.
“Obviously we haven’t got loads of experience there but obviously last year already helps, I think, to sort of understand a bit where we went wrong.
“So, yeah, hopefully we’re a bit more right this year there.”
Evans’ boss Jari-Matti Latvala also agrees. He knows Toyota was underprepared in Ypres last year, but this time round he’s adamant his team has done its homework.
“Yes, last year we didn’t have good test roads and we suffered a tad in the rally,” Latvala said. “This year, it’s been a different story.
“We’ve had good roads, we prepared much better and I think we should be more competitive this year.
“So it’s not easy in Belgium. Very fast Tarmac roads, a lot of junctions, a lot of cuts, dirt, but I think we are more prepared this year.
“Last year Hyundai was really strong but this year we should be able to really fight against them.”
