Born and raised in the heartland of Welsh rallying, Elfyn Evans is all about taking the sport to the people.
On his last visit to Spain with the World Rally Championship in 2022, he declared it “a bit of a crime” for the calendar not to include events like it that are so popular with spectators.
It may be Las Palmas this time instead of Salou, but Evans is looking forward to going back to Spain.
The Toyota driver tackled the European Rally Championship-qualifying Rally Sierra Morena as a warm-up for Rally Islas Canarias recently.
And while his focus was fixed on dialling the Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 into the slick island asphalt, Evans was pleased to see the number of fans lining the stages in and around Córdoba.
Crowds at the recent Rally Sierra Morena impressed Evans
“There were a lot of people out there,” he said. “I’m hoping it’ll be the same when we get to the next round in the Canaries. I’ve heard from people who have done the event before that there’s usually a lot of spectators about.
“I think you know my feelings about how important it is to go rallying where there’s a lot of fans and the sport’s really appreciated. Spain is definitely one of those places and it’s really nice to be going back.”
A five-time winner on the island of Gran Canaria, Carlos Sainz’s words came as reassurance ahead of Las Palmas’ debut on the WRC calendar.
“I have good memories from this place,” Sainz told DirtFish. “It’s a nice place with some very good roads, they are challenging. I am really happy to see Canarias going to the world championship. It’s very good news to host a WRC round there.
“People will be surprised at the number of fans supporting rallying out there. I know this very well, myself. In my old days, I won El Corte Inglés Rally five times and this is the place, as a Spanish driver, where you are getting the most support.”
Evans still has work to do to make his GR Yaris Rally1 "100%" but is happy with the car's feeling
Reflecting on his preparations in mainland Spain, Evans added: “The car felt good. There’s still some stuff to do to get it to 100%. We were working on some areas of the car and we will continue to do that in our pre-event test and, of course, a big aspect of the test was the use of the Hankook tires.
“I’d say Hankook has ticked some early boxes in terms of reliability and consistency. It’s been a good start – but let’s make a wider judgement later in the season.”
Spain’s WRC round was hosted in Lloret de Mar from its WRC debut in 1991 until 2002, when it shifted south of Barcelona to Salou for the next two decades. Evans’ pace in Spain has never been in question; he registered a second place aboard his Toyota in 2021.
