September’s Rally Turkey victory for Elfyn Evans and Scott Martin was charged with emotion for the experienced British co-driver.
After a second win of 2020, which carried the Toyota Gazoo Racing pair back to the head of the FIA World Rally Championship, Martin dedicated the success to his mentor and former WRC co-driver, Michael ‘Beef’ Park.
Park was influential in developing a young Martin’s career when both were at M-Sport almost 20 years ago. He co-drove Estonia’s Markko Märtin while Scott Martin was a young technician there, climbing the co-driving ranks in the British rally scene.
Park died in an accident at Wales Rally GB in 2005 and Martin’s second WRC event win in Turkey came just two days after the 15th anniversary of that tragic incident.
Speaking in a fascinating WRC Backstories podcast, Martin told interviewer Becs Williams how victory in Turkey, after a mad final day when the punishing rocky roads caused puncture chaos among the frontrunners, meant so much.
“Everybody had a spot of bad luck and it’s just that Turkey is always like that. It’s the guy who has the least bad luck or the least amount of problems [who wins],” he said.
