When Central European Rally kicks off after mid-October, it will in fact be only the third time this season that Evans is not the first car on the road.
After Rally Chile, Evans dropped to second in the drivers’ championship behind his team-mate Sébastien Ogier. At the same time, he was able to – or perhaps in this case rather forced to – give up his role as road sweeper.
The role of the first car is usually an avoided, necessary evil in the World Rally Championship, but right now it could actually have offered Evans a significant advantage. On asphalt rallies, there is often an edge in being the first car to drive on a clean road – and then dragging mud onto the racing line for those behind.
Evans remains firmly in the title fight, with the Welshman trailing new championship leader Ogier by only two points. And he does not necessarily see his road position as a bad thing.
“It depends a lot on the conditions,” Evans told DirtFish.
“I mean if it’s not very, very wet and very, very muddy, I don’t think it’s going to hurt us too bad,” Evans continued.
Evans says he is now focusing only on the things he can control.
“At the end of the day, I just look forward to the Tarmac rounds now. It’s rounds that we’ve done well on before and [we’re] just focused on doing the best we can there. We have to just get on with the job,” Evans outlined.
Evans has for years been one of the best drivers in the World Rally Championship, but the world title still eludes him. This season he once again has a brilliant chance – but the opposition is extremely tough.
Ogier has been in formidable form this season. The Frenchman has skipped three events entirely, yet in every rally he has contested, he has finished on the podium. Ogier already has five victories – more than anyone else this year.
Evans is fully aware of the scale of the challenge, but he is not ready to give up on his dream.
“We never know in this game how things play out. All I know is that I’ll give it my best shot and whatever comes will come,” he said coolly.
