EVANS GETS A SNORKEL AND BETTER SUSPENSION FOR SAFARI
Elfyn Evans will hunt down Thierry Neuville for the lead of the World Rally Championship in Kenya this week armed with a tweaked Toyota GR Yaris Rally1.
Brit Evans is three points behind his Hyundaidriving rival after two events this season.
He starts the Safari Rally from today (Thursday) hoping to capitalise on an “updated suspension system aimed at improving performance and reliability”, according to Toyota.
“The Safari Rally is the most extreme event on the calendar so it’s always an exciting one to go to, but it’s more about the adventure than the pure thrill of driving,” said the 35-yearold Welshman Evans.
“We’ve made a decent start to the year, taking good points from the first two rounds, but the Safari can be a bit of a lottery. We have to find that balance between pushing and looking after the car and see if we can be at the finish with good points, but that’s easier said than done.”
Evans, who finished second in Kenya in 2022 and third last year alongside co-driver Scott Martin, continued: “We’ve seen before that when it rains it can be very difficult, and we’re potentially looking at much more difficult conditions for a greater proportion of the rally and that could make things quite challenging.”
Teams can fit snorkel systems to their cars this year as part of new regulations for 2024. Toyota reckoned the move would help [teams] navigate deep water or soft sand and prevent engines being starved of air.
Toyota team boss JariMatti Latvala said: “It’s difficult to make significant changes to the car for this one event, but we are introducing a general update for the suspension. It’s also great that we can fit snorkels to the cars, which will help if there is more water on the road.”