Evans won Rally Japan last year, which remains the Welshman’s most recent victory in the World Rally Championship.
This year, Evans’ championship hopes were already gone heading into Japan, allowing him to compete without any pressure. He expects the rally to be quite similar to last year’s event.
“Some new sections, but quite typical rally Japan, I would say. But that doesn’t mean it’s easy,” Evans previewed.
“It’s going to come down to the conditions. Of course, we know the character of this rally is super busy and difficult from that side. So many things can go wrong here. The margins are so small. But let’s wait and see what the conditions are like,” Evans added.
Evans heads into the rally with relatively low pressure. While Toyota still has a shot at the manufacturers’ title, Evans personally doesn’t carry many expectations.
“We don’t really have so much to lose anyway. I mean, we’re quite far behind. So, of course, we want to try to concentrate on having a good rally. We have to get to the end – you get no points for not finishing. With the type of rally this is, I think it’s important to be clean as well as try to be fast,” Evans reminded.
Toyota needs a perfect performance in Japan to stand a chance of overcoming Hyundai’s 15-point lead in the manufacturers’ championship.
“It’s quite clear. We need something quite special really, don’t we, to close that deficit, especially with this points system. At the end of the day, it’s quite clear that we have to give it a go and see what comes at the end of the weekend. That’s all we can do,” Evans concluded.
