WRC points leader Evans confident he’s in a “stronger place” on gravel rallies

The Toyota driver is enjoying his career best start to a WRC campaign, finishing on the podium in all four rounds to date, including victories in Sweden and Safari Rally Kenya. A third place finish on asphalt at Rally Islas Canarias last month extended his championship lead to 43 points over team-mate and two-time world champion Kalle Rovanpera.  

While on paper the result increased his championship lead, Evans isn’t getting carried away by his impressive start to the campaign that has seen him score 29 points more than his previous best point tally after four rounds. 

“It’s still very early days in the championship, so it doesn’t really mean a lot,” he said.

The championship heads back to the rough gravel of Portugal, a round where Evans was victorious in 2021. However, the last two visits to the rally mad nation have proved difficult, resulting in a high speed crash in 2023, while Evans struggled for confidence to push his GR Yaris to the limit last year.

Reflecting on his 2024 campaign, Evans identified rough gravel rallies, such as Portugal, as an area for improvement this year. 

DAZN

"I actually think there was quite a bit missing especially on the rougher gravel rallies and that was the biggest Achilles heel really, so that side of the job needs to improve quite a bit.” Evans said at the end of last season.

Although, Evans will now have to deal with the disadvantage of sweeping the loose gravel on the stages, by being first on the road in Portugal, he believes progress has been made.

“After a good start to the season we’re now entering a sequence of gravel events where, as championship leader, it can be challenging running first on the road on the Friday if it’s dry,” said Evans.

“My recent testing on gravel has been in the wet, so preparation has not been ideal, but the feeling was good in Kenya and even if the rallies we’re heading into are quite different to that, I’m confident we can start them in a stronger place than where we were last year. 

“Portugal has some great stages that are fun to drive, so we’ll be looking to enjoy them and even if road cleaning is a factor, we also want to aim for a strong run through Sunday to keep scoring as many points as we can.”

The first of 24 Rally Portugal stages begin on Thursday night. 

Watch 2025 World Rally Championship on DAZN

The 2025 World Rally Championship is available through DAZN on its own dedicated app channel,  Rally TV.

It is available either as a dedicated Rally TV subscription, or as part of your existing DAZN subscription for a small add-on fee.

DAZN is the home of Rally TV worldwide, excluding Estonia, Finland, France, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Sweden, China, Hong Kong and Japan.

Rally TV also broadcasts every race from the European Rally Championship.

Watch every WRC and ERC race this year on DAZN's 24-hour dedicated Rally TV channel. For more information on prices, subscriptions and more, click here .