The young Welsh rally driver Elfyn Evans ended his 2012 season on a high note by finishing third on the final round of the FIA WRC Academy, the RallyRACC Rally de Espana. Following victories in Greece, Finland, Germany and France, Elfyn had already clinched the Academy title (subject to confirmation by the FIA): two punctures and a 40 second time penalty put paid to any chance of another win in Spain, but Elfyn was more than happy with his podium finish.

Accompanied for the first time on an Academy round by new co-driver Seb Marshall, Elfyn made a cautious start to the year’s only mixed-surface rally. A puncture on stage 3 cost the pair over two minutes, with the damage caused by the puncture then requiring attention at the lunchtime service halt. The repair work took longer than expected, which resulted in the Fiesta leaving service four minutes late and so incurred a forty second penalty. Things then improved dramatically in the afternoon, with the pair setting the second-fastest time on stage 4 and then going quickest on the following test. At the end of the first day Elfyn and Seb had recovered to third place, but were happy to have survived the muddy conditions relatively unscathed.

After their mechanics had switched the Fiesta from gravel to asphalt specification, Day 2 then saw the pair suffer another puncture on the opening stage. Stopping to change it cost another two minutes, although they kept their third place. Despite a gap of over five minutes to the car in fourth place, Elfyn had clearly decided that the opportunity to gain experience of the Spanish stages was too good to pass up and was fastest on two of the afternoon’s three stages and second quickest on the other by just six-tenths of a second.The result rounds off an incredible year for Elfyn. Still only 23, he secured the WRC Academy title with one round remaining*, winning four events and setting 23 fastest stage times in the process. In the British Rally Championship, Elfyn won both the R2 category and the Fiesta SportTrophy and so the young Welshman succeeded in achieving his aims in both the WRC and BRC.

Elfyn Evans: “We had a difficult start to Day 2 when we had a puncture early on the first stage and we had to stop and change it, so we weren’t in a position to challenge for second place. We then concentrated on getting the best out of ourselves and improving the relationship between Seb and me even further and I think we managed to do that. In the afternoon, we set two fastest times and a second-quickest and so there are lots of positives we can take away from Spain.“It’s been a difficult and frustrating rally at times, but third place isn’t a bad way to round the year off!”

Seb Marshall: “This is a hugely challenging event for both driver and co-driver normally, so to come here as a first event for a new partnership has been a bit tricky. Having said that, we came through it well and it was great to get experience of the stages and compete on such a difficult event. Hopefully the experience will stand us in good stead for the future.”