How Evans completed Toyota’s dream WRC campaign
In a dominant 2023 World Rally Championship campaign, sealing both the drivers’ and the manufacturers’ titles with rounds to spare, only one objective remained unaccounted for in Toyota’s dream year. Elfyn Evans led its charge at Rally Japan, supported by Sebastien Ogier and Kalle Rovanpera, to complete a stunning season for the Japanese manufacturer
Japan threw the proverbial kitchen sink at World Rally Championship crews as extremely changeable weather added to the already demanding rally of 10,000 corners. However, the 'four seasons in one day' conditions failed to derail Elfyn Evans from delivering Toyota the home win it so craved.
With Kalle Rovanpera and Toyota having wrapped up the respective drivers' and constructors' titles in October, you could be forgiven for thinking the WRC season finale in the land of the rising sun would be a relaxed dead rubber affair. It was anything but. After Toyota suffered a defeat to rivals Hyundai on home soil last year, the pressure for a Toyota win at a rally held in its own backyard, Toyota City, was palpable.
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