When everything seemed decided, Elfyn Evans put on the shoes of himself, but the one who touched the WRC world title in 2020, and not only won the Rally of Finland with great merit, but also kept the fight open for the 2021 WRC drivers’ world title.
Evans has given Toyota Racing its eighth success of the season out of 10 races so far. An eloquent fact, even if in Finnish land, where the Yarus have been developed for years, Hyundai has frightened the Japanese house in a concrete way for the first time.
The Welshman, after a good start to the race, literally turned on after the mid-day Service on Saturday. Since that time it has been practically unbeatable. He did not just significantly reduce the gap from Breen and Tanak who preceded him, but he overcame them both in the same test, with the icing on the cake arrived on Sunday with a couple of resolutive specials, with which he kept the comeback attempts at bay. by Tanak.
For Toyota, another step towards the Constructors world title, while Evans achieves at least the result of extending the fight for the Drivers world title at least up to the Rally de Catalunya. Maybe it’s too late to catch up and beat Ogier, but Evans was expected to have a concrete answer after a disappointing summer and it arrived on time this weekend.
Thanks to the 30 points collected today by Evans and 10 by Ogier, the Welshman practically halves his delay from the 7-time world champion. There were 44 points behind before the Rally of Finland and now, with 2 rallies remaining, Ogier has only 24 points ahead of his teammate.
Hyundai, on the other hand, seemed to be able to seize the victory, even a double, until yesterday. Then, however, Evans changed pace and there was no way to reverse the trend that led the Welshman to the lead and then to victory. However, the step forward made by the Alzenau team should not be underestimated, which for the first time won 9 special stages in Finland and nearly achieved a great result.
For Toyota, the only negative results of the weekend are the premature retirements of Takamoto Katsuta and Kalle Rovanpera, both by accident. Fortunately, both did not suffer significant injuries, but from both – for different reasons – more was expected. Rovanpera suffered from back pain due to yesterday’s impact, which is why he also retired on Sunday.
Ott Tanak’s second and third place are results that help Hyundai in the Constructors’ World Championship, even if the world champion now seems to be one step away from returning to the Toyota House after 3 years from the last one obtained, that of 2018. The double podium obtained today from Hyundai Motorsport is a counterbalance to Thierry Neuville’s retirement. The Belgian driver was forced to abandon the race prematurely due to what happened yesterday afternoon.
The Belgian’s car, landing from a jump, violently slammed the front. The impact broke not only the supplementary lighting system to face the last tests in the dark, but also the radiator. As a result, the engine of the number 11 i20 CoupĂ© WRC overheated and Neuville could not help but retire permanently from the Finnish event. In doing so, Thierry is no longer mathematically fighting for the World Cup.
SĂ©bastien Ogier, on the other hand, was the author of an anonymous weekend. He gained several positions with the retirements of Rovanpera and Neuville, both ahead of him at the time of the KO, but did not go beyond fifth place, without however scoring points in the Power Stage due to a drop in power of the engine of his Yaris . He arrived in Finland with the almost certainty of the title, while he will be forced to return home with the knowledge that the games are now completely open.
Sixth and seventh place for Gus Greensmith and Adrien Fourmaux. The two drivers of the M-Sport Ford team raced mainly to gain experience. Good result and the fact of not having made serious mistakes in an extremely treacherous appointment due to the high average speeds of the special stages.
Redemption for Teemu Suninen in WRC2. After the consensual separation from M-Sport, with the adventure in Spain as a Hyundai Motorsport driver on the horizon, in the Finnish interlude at the wheel of a Volkswagen Polo GTI R5 of the Movisport team, the Finn achieved a great category victory, sweaty until the last day against Mads Ostberg.
The Norwegian, for the first time in Finland at the wheel of an R5, was slowed down on the last day due to several problems that arose on the official Citroen C3 R5, but still took home points in the fight for the category title against Andreas Mikkelsen. Third place for Jari Huttunen, at the wheel of the new Hyundai i20 N Rally2. However, a question mark remains about the result of the Finn, because in the final jump of the Power Stage he probably damaged the radiator. It remains to be seen whether he will be able to return to the Service Park or will be forced to retire.
Rally of Finland – Final classification
Pos. | Pilot / navigator | Car | Time / posting | Penalty |
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Evans / Martin | Toyota Yaris WRC | 2.19’13 “7 | |
2 | Tanak / Jarveoja | Hyundai i20 Coupe WRC | +14 “1 | |
3 | Breen / Nagle | Hyundai i20 Coupe WRC | +42 “2 | |
4 | Lappi / Ferm | Toyota Yaris WRC | +58 “8 | |
5 | Ogier / Ingrassia | Toyota Yaris WRC | + 2’54 “4 | + 1’00 “ |
6 | Greensmith / Patterson | Ford Fiesta WRC | + 5’02 “3 | |
7 | Fourmaux / Coria | Ford Fiesta WRC | + 6’22 “9 | |
8 | Suninen / Markkula | Volkswagen Polo GTI R5 | + 9’52 “1 | |
9 | Ostberg / Eriksen | Citroen C3 Rally2 | + 10’07 “8 | |
10 | Lindholm / Hamalainen | Skoda Fabia R5 Evo | + 10’52 “8 |