ELFYN Evans says his accident at the South Estonia Rally will not affect his performance when he returns to the super-fast gravel roads of Rally Estonia in the FIA World Rally Championship next week.

Evans and co-driver Scott Martin came off unscathed after a high-speed accident that saw their rally cut short on Sunday, and the Welshman maintained that it was still a worthwhile warm-up for the main event.

Reigning World champion Ott Tänak won the eight-stage event with an overall time of 48.28.2, with Evans’ Toyota Gazoo Racing teamates Kalle Rovanperä and Seb Ogier completing the podium.

“Unfortunately our rally was cut short with an accident, but we are both okay, we have most of the information we need and are looking forward to Rally Estonia,” said Dinas Mawddwy ace Evans.

“There will be no issue for Rally Estonia, I will be back in the car before then for another test anyway (Toyota’s Rally Turkey test in Greece) - and even if I wasn’t, it would not be the end of the world.

“We knew these cars were safe, but an accident like this gives us more confirmation. The damage to the car is cosmetic; the shell is damaged extensively, but that came from going through the trees. The car’s structure held together perfectly.

“I turned in ever so slightly early to a corner. I saw the long grass, but I took a chance to keep my line. I was probably a wheel’s width off the road in the cut, but there was a tree stump hidden in there.

“When you’re going at such high speed, there’s not really a lot you can do about it. We rolled into the trees in fifth or sixth gear. I can’t actually remember whether it was fifth or sixth, but it was fast.”

Evans will be relishing the restart of the FIA World Rally Championship - even more so as the Welshman currently holds a strong second place in the 2020 title race after his best-ever start to a WRC season.

After the opening three rounds staged in Monte Carlo, Sweden and Mexico, before the global COVID-19 lockdown, Evans is only topped in the points standings by Sébastien Ogier, his six-time World Champion team-mate at Toyota Gazoo.

After a six-month hiatus due to COVID-19, the WRC is ready to resume on the super-fast gravel roads of Estonia next week (4-6 September) and Evans says he is excited to be back behind the wheel.

Having only joined the title winning Toyota Gazoo Racing World Rally Team at the start of the 2020 campaign, Evans admits he still needs more experience pushing the Yaris WRC to its limits, particularly on gravel and dry asphalt.

That said, the Welshman is clearly a quick learner. He scored an encouraging podium on his debut for his new employers on the Monte Carlo Rally, before making history in February when becoming the first British driver ever to win in snowy Sweden - a feat neither Colin McRae nor Richard Burns managed, despite winning World titles. At that point Evans briefly led the World Championship for the first time in his rally career.

Rally Estonia is a new addition to the WRC calendar - introduced to replace rounds including Wales Rally GB lost to the pandemic - but Evans does benefit from recent knowledge of the high-speed Baltic event. He contested last year’s rally in a less powerful R5 car, but has mixed memories having suffered a back injury - the result of a slightly off-line landing to one of the rally’s notoriously big jumps.

“We’ll be approaching it as normal,” Evans confirmed. “If you slow down too much on the jumps, then you’ll fail to be competitive. Besides, I’ve since been told that particular jump is famously tricky – but we now know that place and won’t be making the same mistake again.”