Elfyn Evans has taken the penultimate step towards what will be her second win of the season, winning Special Stage 18 of the Rally of Finland, the penultimate of the weekend of the third to last round of the 2021 WRC.
The Welsh Toyota driver has predicted 2 tenths of Ott Tanak in Laukaa 2 of 11.75 kilometers, increasing – albeit slightly – his advantage over his direct rival for the win.
Tanak doesn’t give up, but he knows the only hope is to put pressure on Evans to try and mislead him. However, the Toyota Racing driver is very cold this weekend and will hardly miss the last opportunity to keep the fight for the Drivers’ Championship open.
Esapekka Lappi obtained the third fastest time at 1 “8 from Evans’ reference time, while behind him were Craig Breen (Hyundai Motorsport) and the 7-time world champion Sébastien Ogier. From the Frenchman it is reasonable to expect a Power Stage in which he will try to take home points to keep a certain distance from Evans.
In WRC2 the fight for victory ends definitively, with Teemu Suninen who has stretched again on Mads Ostberg. Between the two there are now 14 “1, a gap that is difficult to bridge for the Norwegian, who is also having to deal with a problem on his Citroen C3 R5 from the first special of the morning.
Rally of Finland – General classification after SS18
Pos. | Pilot / navigator | Car | Time / posting | Penalty |
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Evans / Martin | Toyota Yaris WRC | 2.13’54 “8 | |
2 | Tanak / Jarveoja | Hyundai i20 Coupe WRC | +12 “4 | |
3 | Breen / Nagle | Hyundai i20 Coupe WRC | +35 “5 | |
4 | Lappi / Ferm | Toyota Yaris WRC | +55 “9 | |
5 | Ogier / Ingrassia | Toyota Yaris WRC | + 2’44 “6 | + 1’00 “ |
6 | Greensmith / Patterson | Ford Fiesta WRC | + 4’52 “2 | |
7 | Fourmaux / Coria | Ford Fiesta WRC | + 6’11 “2 | |
8 | Suninen / Markkula | Volkswagen Polo GTI R5 | + 9’26 “7 | |
9 | Ostberg / Eriksen | Citroen C3 Rally2 | + 9’40 “8 | |
10 | Lindholm / Hamalainen | Skoda Fabia R5 Evo | + 10’20 “6 |