Elfyn Evans Maintains World Rally Title Challenge In Estonia

Elfyn Evans Pic: Toyota Racing

Scoring points is all that matters in a considerably Covid-19 shortened World Rally Championship season – and when he discovered that his car wasn’t ideally set up for the conditions, that’s exactly what Elfyn Evans set out to achieve at Rally Estonia. This Toyota Gazoo Racing team had expected the gravel roads to be much faster than they had turned out to be, so with the Yaris WRC’s set up not ideal for the twistier and deeply rutted roads, it wasn’t easy for Evans to maintain a good fast rhythm.

By Paul Evans

Scoring points is all that matters in a considerably Covid-19 shortened World Rally Championship season – and when he discovered that his car wasn’t ideally set up for the conditions, that’s exactly what Elfyn Evans at Rally Estonia.

This Toyota Gazoo Racing team had expected the gravel roads to be much faster than they had turned out to be, so with the Yaris WRC’s set up not ideal for the twistier and deeply rutted roads, it wasn’t easy for Evans to maintain a good fast rhythm.

Despite this, he and co-driver Scott Martin finished fourth and scored extra bonus points by setting the second fastest time on the closing Power Stage, to maintain their challenge for the title.

After a short opening stage on Friday night, the 10 stage long Saturday leg began well – with Evans moving from fifth to third.

But Evans couldn’t match the pace of the leaders.

A rear tyre failure near the end of one of the afternoon stages didn’t help, and by Saturday night Evans was in fourth – 36.8 seconds off the lead.

The weather often plays a key role in the outcome of a rally, but on this occasion rain on Sunday morning didn’t contribute to anyone ahead of Evans making a time-consuming error.

Overnight set up changes enabled Evans to hold position – before he unleashed an impressive push for points performance on the Power Stage.

He had started the event eight points behind series leader Sébastien Ogier, and with his team-mate finishing only one place ahead overall, and behind on the Power Stage, the gap is now only nine points.

With one win, a third and two fourth place finishes, Evans remains second in the drivers’ table and very much in the hunt for his first world title – despite Rally Estonia winner Ott Tänak now heading the chasing pack, just four points behind the Dolgellau ace in third.

“I’m not fully satisfied at the end of the rally but we come away with fourth overall and second place in the Power Stage,” said Evans.

“There was obviously good pace there at points but I was just unable to deliver it consistently.

“We made some changes overnight and in the slippery conditions this morning it seemed to be a bit better. Then I struggled when it got quite rough, but it seems to always be a compromise here.

“Like always there’s some things we can work on but at the end of the day we’re here after a difficult weekend with a decent haul of points.”

The next round of the WRC is Rally Turkey (18-20 September).

Rally Estonia – top 10 finishers
1 Ott Tänak/Martin Järveoja (Hyundai i20 Coupe WRC) 1h59m53.6s
2 Craig Breen/Paul Nagle (Hyundai i20 Coupe WRC) + 22.2s
3 Sébastien Ogier/Julien Ingrassia (Toyota Yaris WRC) +26.9s
4 Elfyn Evans/Scott Martin (Toyota Yaris WRC) +41.9s
5 Kalle Rovanperä/Jonne Halttunen (Toyota Yaris WRC) +1m18.7s
6 Teemu Suninen/Jarmo Lehtinen (Ford Fiesta WRC) +2m39.6s
7 Esapekka Lappi/Janne Ferm (Ford Fiesta WRC) +2m52.0s
8 Gus Greensmith/Elliott Edmondson (Ford Fiesta WRC) +4m53.8s
9 Oliver Solberg/Aaron Johnston (Volkswagen Polo GTI R5) +7m38.6s
10 Mads Østberg/Torstein Eriksen (Citroën C3 R5) +8m17.3s