For Elfyn Evans, the 2024 Goodwood Festival of Speed represented a rare opportunity to show off his skills at the wheel of a Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 car on home soil. He also drove the latest version of the British-built Corolla GR Sport on the road.
Currently the World Rally Championship doesn’t visit the United Kingdom, meaning the Welshman and the Toyota Gazoo Racing World Rally Team’s hybrid GR Yaris competition car are seldom seen upon these shores.
Elfyn went some way to putting that right on Friday and Saturday, spending two days drifting the GR Yaris Rally1 around the Goodwood estate’s asphalt hillclimb course and threading his car through the trees on the sinuous, slippery rally stage.
During the weekend, the 35-year-old also got to experience the latest in Toyota road cars, using the British-built Corolla GR Sport hatchback as a ‘daily driver’ between his accommodation and the Goodwood estate.
With the powertrain constructed at Deesside engine plant in North Wales and the car assembled at Burnaston in Derbyshire, it made the most suitable transportation for our British motorsport ace on his ‘home outing’.
After all, the award-winning and British-built Corolla GR Sport is influenced by Toyota Gazoo Racing’s championship-winning spirit, and features unique details to endow the car with a more athletic appearance, inside and out.
Reflecting on his time at the Festival of Speed, Elfyn said: “It’s been an incredible couple of days, having the full Toyota Gazoo Racing line-up here, from the Dakar Hilux to the GR Yaris Rally1 car and everything in between.”
“It’s been a lot of fun and it’s always nice to see so many people turn out for the event. Of course, with the absence of a UK round of the World Rally Championship, this is a brilliant opportunity to bring a Rally1 car to the UK. It’s a great opportunity to have some fun and to do some proper ‘donuts’ in front of Goodwood House. That always seems to go down well.”
With the emphasis firmly on having fun, Scott Martin, Elfyn’s regular co-driver, found himself having to temporarily give up his seat to a succession of special guests who were eager for a white-knuckle experience in the fastest and most extreme GR Yaris.
“The Goodwood Forest Rally Stage is quite narrow and testing,” said Elfyn. “It is very difficult to fully capture the true feelings that go on inside the car from cameras and even from the outside, so it’s great to get a few lucky people in the passenger seat so they can experience what goes on in a Rally1 car.”
As dusk settled over the Festival of Speed on Saturday evening, Elfyn’s attentions turned back to his World Rally Championship campaign. He will be trying to earn the fifth podium finish of the 2024 season on Rally Latvia, which begins on 18 July.
“It’s a quick turnaround for us because we’re jetting out to Latvia to start the recce on Monday. I’m ready to go and looking forward to a good rally,” said Elfyn, who is currently second in the WRC standings.
Contents correct at the time and date of publication.
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