Elfyn Evans Eyes Climb After Gruelling Opening Day In Sardinia

Elfyn Evans is staying calm after a punishing opening day at Rally Italia Sardegna, where extreme road-cleaning duties saw the Welsh ace finish sixth overall. 

The Toyota driver, who leads the World Rally Championship standings heading into round six, remains confident that better road position on Saturday could help him regain crucial ground.

Opening the road on Friday’s gravel stages — a notorious disadvantage in Sardinia’s hot and sandy conditions — Evans was effectively left to sweep loose dirt from the racing line, giving rivals a cleaner path behind him.

"As we expected it was a challenge to open the road today with quite a big cleaning effect," Evans said.

"The feeling in the car this morning was actually not too bad with some improvement from Portugal, but the road was evolving a lot behind us and other drivers could take big chunks of time, especially in the last stage of the loop.

“In the afternoon there was still some cleaning effect for us, but when the road was hard and rocky I was also struggling more with the feeling, so that’s still something to work on overnight. 

“A better road position will definitely help and we’ll go again tomorrow."

The Olbia-based rally lived up to its rugged reputation, with Friday’s action featuring six stages across 120.7 kilometres of tight, high-speed gravel. 

The second stage in the loop proved particularly treacherous, catching out several top drivers.

Reigning world champion Thierry Neuville retired early after striking an earth bank while leading, while Takamoto Katsuta rolled his Toyota on SS5. M-Sport Ford suffered a trio of setbacks, with Martins Sesks, Josh McErlean, and Grégoire Munster all retiring due to crashes or suspension failure.

The chaos opened the door for Sébastien Ogier, Evans’ Toyota teammate, to seize the lead late in the day. 

Ogier took advantage of cleaner road conditions and superior tyre management to jump from third to first on the final test — the longest of the rally at nearly 28km.

“To be in the lead after Friday was not what we were expecting, so we must be very pleased with our day,” Ogier said.

READ MORE: Elfyn Evans Welcomes Classic Asphalt Challenge

“We made some changes to the setup based on our experience in Portugal and I’m feeling happier with the balance of the car here so far.

“We had a strong, consistent day and I believe it was our good tyre management that allowed us to take the lead in the last stage of the day. Still, the gaps are very close to Adrien and Ott, so we will need to keep pushing just as hard tomorrow as we did today.”

Ogier leads Adrien Fourmaux by just 2.1 seconds, with Hyundai’s Ott Tänak 5.2 seconds further back in third. Sami Pajari, enjoying his most competitive outing of the season in a TGR-WRT2 entry, sits fourth after an impressive showing.

Evans, currently 24 points clear in the championship standings, avoided mistakes in Sardinia’s brutal terrain and is well-positioned to take advantage of any further attrition in the field — a sentiment echoed by Toyota team principal Jari-Matti Latvala.

“Elfyn wasn’t in an easy place opening the road today but the key here for him is to be patient,” Latvala said.

“We’ve already seen a lot of drama today and for Elfyn – and for Taka – there can still be the chance to climb the order and take good points.”

With Saturday’s leg offering another 120 kilometres of timed racing and a better start position for Evans, the stage is set for a critical fightback as the Welshman looks to reinforce his championship lead — and perhaps move within striking distance of another podium.

End of day one (Friday):

1 Sébastien Ogier/Vincent Landais (Toyota GR YARIS Rally1) 1h10m33.1s
2 Adrien Fourmaux/Alexandre Coria (Hyundai i20 N Rally1) +2.1s
3 Ott Tänak/Martin Järveoja (Hyundai i20 N Rally1) +7.3s
4 Sami Pajari/Marko Salminen (Toyota GR YARIS Rally1) +16.8s
5 Kalle Rovanperä/Jonne Halttunen (Toyota GR YARIS Rally1) +22.8s
6 Elfyn Evans/Scott Martin (Toyota GR YARIS Rally1) +1m09.8s
7 Takamoto Katsuta/Aaron Johnston (Toyota GR YARIS Rally1) +2m27.9s
8 Nikolay Gryazin/Konstantin Aleksandrov (Škoda Fabia RS Rally2) +2m33.3s
9 Emil Lindholm/Reeta Hämäläinen (Škoda Fabia RS Rally2) +2m41.2s
10 Yohan Rossel/Arnaud Dunand (Citroën C3 Rally2) +2m57.5s
(Results as of 20:00 on Friday, for the latest results please visit www.wrc.com)

What's next?

Saturday follows a similar format to Friday, although slightly longer at 121.6 competitive kilometres. A loop of three stages takes in classic Sardinian roads south-west of Olbia and is run twice either side of mid-day service.