Evans competed in the Arctic Lapland Rally for testing purposes, with the event concluding on Saturday evening with the finish ceremonies in the centre of Rovaniemi. Driving a Toyota GR Yaris Rally1, Evans was unsurprisingly the fastest driver overall, taking victory by nearly four minutes over Esapekka Lappi.
However, Evans did not receive the coveted reindeer antlers for his efforts, as the top prizes at the Arctic Lapland Rally are awarded to the winning crew in the Finnish championship classes. Even so, Evans and co-driver Scott Martin did not leave Lapland empty-handed.
At the finish podium, Evans was presented with the Keijo “Keke” Rosberg memorial trophy.
That said, trophies were not the main objective for the Toyota star in Rovaniemi. The primary focus was testing the Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 ahead of Rally Sweden, which takes place in a couple of weeks’ time.
“The idea was to do some work here. And we got a good feeling with the car, which allowed us to get up to speed and be ready ahead of Sweden. We still feel like we have some areas to work on during the tests this week, so it was good to come here and get that feeling,” Evans said.
Evans and Martin were able to drive in proper winter conditions, with temperatures dropping to around minus 30 degrees Celsius at their coldest.
“The conditions were fantastic. It was very cold, of course, but the driving conditions were amazing. We really enjoyed it,” Evans praised.
Evans is among the favourites for the snow rally in Sweden, where he will be defending his victory from last year. He is expected to face strong opposition from his new team-mate Oliver Solberg, who claimed a sensational win at last weekend’s Rally Monte Carlo.
“Of course the expectation is always the same: we always try to go for the win. Let’s see what the conditions are like this year. We are looking forward to it, and let’s see what we can do,” Evans said.
Rally Sweden will be contested around Umeå from 12–15 February.
