In the brand-new gravel rally, starting position played a very significant role. Evans, being the second car on the route, dropped out of the leading battle right from the start, making the situation difficult. Since the starting position wasn’t favourable throughout the weekend, Evans had to focus on securing as many points as possible for the World Championship fight.
In the end, Evans finished fifth in the competition, but only managed to collect 11 points. Meanwhile, Hyundai’s Ott Tänak surged to second place in the championship, and Evans is now third, trailing the leader Thierry Neuville by 13 points.
“Sunday was about trying to get as many points as we could. It was not a brilliant day, but not a terrible one either but the power stage falling short by a few tenths. It’s quite annoying,” Evans said.
“It’s a weekend where we at least gain some points. Of course, this is not what we’re here to aim for. But I guess it’s better than nothing. Of course it was a difficult weekend with the cleaning, and you’re always a bit on the back foot from there.”
On Sunday, Evans was the fourth fastest (4 WRC points) and fifth on the Power Stage (1 WRC point). In contrast, Tänak scored a maximum of 12 WRC points on Sunday alone. Sundays have been weak for both Toyota and especially Evans.
“It’s the Sunday that’s hurt us more this year than anything else. I think on rally points alone we’re faring better than everybody else. But it’s the Sunday points. That’s not going so well at the moment,” Evans explained.
Evans has consistently finished in the top five, but victories are missing. Wins are also needed for the championship.
“I’m not chuffed about the situation but not super worried. We were close at least once in Croatia. Maybe that was the one that we should have won. We have been quite consistent but we need to start winning something,” Evans summed up.
