A new points scoring system was introduced to the World Rally Championship this season. Points are distributed over the weekend in such a way that provisional points are first given to the top ten on Saturday, and then daily points are distributed on Sunday, along with points for the five fastest on the Power Stage, as per the old system.
Rally Sweden saw something that had been feared: the rally’s winner, Esapekka Lappi, did not receive the biggest points haul from the race. Lappi grabbed 18 provisional points from Saturday and an additional point on Sunday. In total, Lappi earned 19 points.
Elfyn Evans, who finished second in his Toyota, took home the biggest pot. Evans secured an additional 11 points on Sunday, making 24 points in total from the rally. After all the difficulties, this haul was sweet for the Welshman.
“It wasn’t looking so good on Friday when we were aquaplaning on the snow. It was tricky,” Evans admitted after the rally.
“I wasn’t really expecting too much coming into the weekend, to be honest, with the road position we had. The feeling we had in the car, even before the Arctic Rally, was getting better, but not really where we would like it to be. I was not so optimistic going into the weekend, so to have it turn out like this, I think we can be reasonably satisfied at the end of it,” Evans continued.
Evans was very disappointed after Friday. However, he hadn’t lost hope even at that stage.
“We’d seen so many casualties that we weren’t really expecting. It came as a bit of a surprise, but of course, the conditions were difficult. We had a scare of our own, which we were quite lucky to get away with so lightly. But the snow banks were kind to me,” Evans recapped.
“We got into a better road position and then, of course, we had to see what was possible. I think when the conditions were with us, then the pace was quite okay. But still, I’m not fully satisfied with the performance over the weekend,” Evans admitted.
