Elfyn Evans is very happy for winning Rally Finland for a second time in his career saying that he had a great feeling with his Yaris on the stages, but he is aware of Kalle Rovanpera's great form for their fight for the championship despite the fact that he closed their gap after the end of the ninth WRC round.
The Welshman started Rally Finland with a 55-point disadvantage over his teammate on the drivers' championship, but now their gap is at 25 points after Rovanpera's retirement on his home event. The reigning WRC Champion was leading Rally Finland from Stage 2 to Stage 7, but he rolled his Yaris 11.1 Km into SS8 after getting out of shape in a right-hander. Despite his mechanics' efforts to repair his Yaris, Toyota announced his retirement due to extensive rollcage damage. It must be mentioned that Evans and Thierry Neuville were fighting for the lead with Rovanpera before his crash. Going into Saturday stages, Evans set a dominant pace winning almost all the stages and increasing his advantage over the second Neuville. Totally, Evans scored the maximum points in Finland, as he was the fastest driver in Powerstage, while he joined the club with the two-time winners Timo Salonen and Ari Vatanen.
"It has been a great weekend, we have had a really nice feeling in the car and with that came the stage times quite naturally", Evans said.
"It is obviously a great feeling to win here for the second time.
"It is true that it is still quite a big gap to Kalle in front and he is on great form.
"But of course we are here to challenge for the championship, and of course now there is a lot more light at the end of the tunnel compared to when we headed in here.
"It is unfortunate what happened to Kalle.
"I think he was quite unlucky and you never like to see that, especially in such a fast place.
"In terms of the championship, it is more on now and we will look forward to fighting for the rest of the year".
Photo Credits: Toyota
Post a Comment