Elfyn Evans believes he is ready to record his best-ever result at ADAC Rallye Deutschland when the WRC heads to the asphalt event next week (21-24 August).
The Welsh rookie already has an impressive haul of results in Germany, having won the WRC Academy round in 2012 and finished sixth overall last season in a Ford Fiesta R5 – that result coming after he battled for the category lead with eventual WRC 2 champion and former F1 race winner, Robert Kubica.
But Evans is a much more experienced driver heading to Germany this year and he’s hoping that will give him a performance edge.
Asked whether he can surpass his 2013 result, Evans told WRC.com: “I think it’s possible, yes. I like the busy nature and the technicality of the stages – especially in the vineyards – so it would be nice to finish ahead of sixth for sure. It’s been a good rally for me so far.”
The 25-year-old acknowledged that the depth of this year’s ADAC Rallye Deutschland entry is greater than it was in 2013, particularly with Hyundai’s trio of i20 WRCs performing so well this season. But he’s still relishing the opportunity to test his rapidly-developing skills on Germany’s sealed surface stages.
“This will be my first time properly on asphalt in the Fiesta WRC so we’re really looking forward to it,” he said. “There will be some interesting times because even though we’ve been to some of the other rallies before this year, there have been new stages or at least stages in reverse. There’s definitely going to be plenty to learn again in Germany, but I like that.”
The M-Sport World Rally Team driver is scheduled to conduct his pre-event test for ADAC Rallye Deutschland on Friday.