Evans ensured a one-two finish for Toyota alongside Kalle Rovanperä and guaranteed good points for the team in the manufacturers’ championship. However, the Welshman felt he could have scored even more points over the weekend.
Evans suffered a puncture on Saturday afternoon, and another tyre failure occurred during the rally’s concluding Power Stage. These issues cost him several points.
“I think overall the speed was not too bad. We had a pretty good Friday, good Saturday morning, maybe not perfect Saturday afternoon. But obviously, I’m disappointed with the way things turned out on Sunday,” Evans lamented.
“It was all going OK, but unfortunately, we had an issue in the Power Stage with a puncture. There was a rock on the line, and there was not a lot I could do. We only lost a few seconds, but with this points system, a small issue like that can penalise you a lot, so it was disappointing to finish the rally this way.”
Based on intermediate times, Evans could have secured two additional points from the Power Stage. Additionally, he had the chance to improve his position by one place in the Super Sunday results, meaning the puncture may have cost him three valuable championship points.
“A few seconds is enough to put you from a decent position to a pretty bad one,” Evans bemoaned.
In the championship fight, Evans managed to gain three points on leader Thierry Neuville. Most importantly, Evans demonstrated significantly better speed after a couple of lacklustre performances in previous rallies.
You can check the current WRC standings here.
Next, the championship points will be contested in the fast gravel rallies of Latvia and Finland. Evans hopes his pace will continue to improve.
“It’s definitely the case that the feeling in the car is much better than in the previous rallies. We need to carry that forward, build on what we learned here and look to do a good job in Latvia.”
