Evans plays down World Rally Championship lead

Leader Elfyn Evans insists the World Rally Championship (WRC) is "wide open" at the halfway point of the season.

The Welshman's victory at Rally Japan last weekend saw him extend his lead over Toyota team-mate Takamoto Katsuta to 20 points.

Evans, 37, is a five-time WRC runner-up and was beaten by Sebastien Ogier in the final rally of the 2025 in Saudi Arabia.

"Obviously it's been a mixed start to the year, but some good performances along the way," Evans told S4C's Newyddion.

"But the points gap, especially considering how many bonus points or extra championship points are available through the Super Sunday classifications, then it's not a very comfortable lead.

"We saw last year that with so many points available and quite a lot of rallies left, even though we have a small advantage, it doesn't mean too much at this stage."

Evans is looking forward to the next challenge - Acropolis Rally Greece from 25-28 June - where he finished fourth last year.

The Dinas Mawddwy driver describes the rally as "rough, hot and rocky" and acknowledges that things can go wrong over the four days.

Rally Japan was the last event of the season on tarmac with the remaining seven rallies on gravel, which Evans has identified as the weakest point of previous seasons.

"I don't really have a favourite surface," Evans added.

"But it's also true that now we're heading into the summer of gravel, as they like to refer to it, and normally that means a lot of dry gravel rallies.

"What will be a disadvantage is the road position, then as championship leaders we have to open the road.

"What you tend to find is the road is being swept with every car that passes, so that gives an advantage to those running further back.

"So part of the challenges that we face now for the second half of the year is to cope with that disadvantage of running first and we have to try and cope with that the best we can in order to perform well for the rest of the season."