Elfyn Evans acknowledged that securing his first World Rally Championship title is “looking challenging” after finishing Rally Finland without earning any points.
The Toyota racer has fallen to fourth place in the standings, now trailing championship leader Thierry Neuville by 36 points following a crash on the penultimate stage.
Evans was in contention for victory, having finished Friday just eight seconds behind the leader and his teammate Kalle Rovanpera.
However, the Welsh driver’s weekend took a turn for the worse when his GR Yaris experienced a driveshaft failure on Saturday morning. As a result of the lengthy repairs, he received a 2m40s penalty for leaving the midday service 16 minutes late, pushing him out of the points-paying places by the end of Saturday.
Evans tried to salvage the situation by vying for Super Sunday points but was caught off-guard at the first corner of stage 19, which led to a crash that ended his rally.
“It was a corner we managed quite well during the morning loop, but I experienced some understeer in the ruts in the afternoon, and we got caught out from there,” said Evans.
Elfyn Evans, Scott Martin, Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT Toyota GR Yaris Rally1
Photo by: Red Bull Content Pool
“Looking back, it seems like a somewhat clumsy accident, but there was nothing I could do to prevent it,” Evans reflected.
“We understand that it’s a challenging corner regardless, but it was mainly how the car responded in the rut rather than our speed—just one of those things.”
With Evans on the sidelines and rally leader Rovanpera also crashing out, Neuville exited the event with a significant gain of 23 points.
While Evans has admitted that his chances for the title have taken a hit, he remains committed to pushing for the championship with four events left in Greece, Chile, Central Europe, and Japan.
“The championship looks challenging now, and we’ve certainly caused a lot of damage this weekend. In the end, we had to take a chance, but for the remainder of the season, everything is still up for grabs, and we will keep pushing until the very end,” added Evans.
“We understand that circumstances can change rapidly, but with four rounds remaining, the likelihood of reducing that gap is diminishing, yet we must give our best until the finish.”
