Can Evans win the race to replace Rovanpera in WRC 2024?

With the reigning champion only committing to a part-season, the door is open for someone else to top the pile in 2024. Can Toyota’s Elfyn Evans defeat a renewed Hyundai attack?

Updated Jan 25, 2024, 9:27 AM

The World Rally Championship is still reeling from the shock announcement that world champion Kalle Rovanpera has gone part-time for 2024. As the dust begins to settle, one thing is clear – the title race is set to be one of the most unpredictable in recent memory.

There may only be a disappointing eight Rally1 cars on the entry list for this weekend’s Monte Carlo curtain-raiser, but the intrigue surrounding the title fight has rarely been higher thanks to Rovanpera’s mic drop at the end of 2023. The WRC’s 23-year-old superstar has seemingly forsaken the chance to go for a hat-trick of crowns to “recharge my batteries”. In the meantime, he will contest a half-season with Toyota, starting with round two in Sweden, before returning for a full-time championship attack in 2025.

Author Tom Howard

Tom Howard is a News Editor working across both Autosport.com and Motorsport.com websites. Starting out as a sports reporter in local newspapers, Tom focussed on motorsport covering several national championships in the UK, including the BTCC.

After a period working as a freelance journalist, Tom moved to Australia in 2013 landing a job at leading Australian motorsport news outlet speedcafe.com, covering international motorsport events including F1, WRC and Supercars. Progressing to Editor in 2017, Tom was named Motorsport Australia Journalist of the Year for his work. He is also a two-time winner of Supercars Journalist of The Year (2017,2019) and a Supercars Championship Media Award winner in 2019.

Tom moved back to his native UK in 2020, firstly working in BTCC, before joining Autosport and motorsport.com in 2021.