Evans glides through chaos for Turkey win
WELSH World Rally Championship hopeful Elfyn Evans underlined his chances last Sunday as he and co-driver Scott Martin won a mad Rally Turkey on Sunday afternoon to reclaim the lead of the FIA World Rally Championship.
The pair soared from fourth to grab their second victory of the season in a Toyota Yaris by over half a minute after a remarkable final morning when punishing rocky roads caused chaos for his rivals. They now lead the standings by 18 points with two rounds remaining.
The Welshman was the only front-running driver to escape from the clutches of the fearsome 38.15km Çetibeli speed test with his car intact as his adversaries were laid low by punctures and mechanical problems.
“It was a tough weekend,” said Evans. “We tried to drive well and stay in the middle of the road and that rewarded us. I’m well aware that a bit of luck needs to go your way and I never like to inherit positions from others in that way, but that’s the nature of Rally Turkey.”
Evans and Martin conquered the rocky gravel mountain roads in southwest Turkey to score that second victory of this shortened 2020 FIA World Rally Championship season that, perhaps more importantly, takes them back to the top of the fiercely contested 2020 title battle.
With rallies in Sardinia and Belgium left, Evans now holds a commanding advantage over his Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT teammate Sébastien Ogier.
The six-time French World Champion failed to score in Turkey after his Yaris WRC retired from a podium position on the final morning with engine issues. Defending champion Ott Tänak is a further nine points adrift in third – the Estonian was another to fall by the rock-strewn roadside, his Hyundai i20 suffering a steering failure.
The rugged roads around Marmaris on the Mediterranean coast are always one of the season’s most gruelling challenges and Evans also had his own struggles to overcome – tyre troubles dropped him from second to fourth place on Saturday afternoon. But with Ogier’s demise and the two frontrunning Hyundai i20s of rivals Thierry Neuville and Sébastien Loeb both losing time with punctures on Sunday morning’s longest and roughest stage of the event, Evans bounced back to take maximum points.
Evans emphasised: “We were there or thereabouts for most of the rally. We thought that it may have been ‘game over’ in terms of victory on Saturday afternoon but we also knew that Sunday was going to be really demanding. We just tried to stay out of trouble and that did reward us. This may not be my sweetest victory but I’m still very happy. It’s clearly a great result from a championship perspective.”
Evans’s third career success, coming after victories in Wales in 2017 and Sweden earlier this season, puts him in pole position to become only the third British driver to be crowned as World Rally Champion and, potentially, the first for 19 years.
Should he take the title, the Welshman would match the achievements of Richard Burns in 2001 and Colin Mcrae who became this country’s first WRC champion 25 years ago. With planned rounds in Germany, Wales and Japan cancelled due to Covid-19, the 2020 WRC title will be decided on next month’s Rally Italia in Sardinia (October 8-11) and the newly introduced Renties Ypres Rally Belgium (November 19-22).
ON two wheels there was more world success for Wales, Aruba.it Racing Ducati rider Chaz Davies fought through sunshine and torrential rain in Catalunya to take an unrepresentative 11th placing after the qualifying sessions affected by rain.
Chaz got familiar with the circuit in wet conditions in view of the possible rain forecast for the races as did team-mate Scott Redding, and the Ducati team concluded Race 1 of the first historical Catalunya Round – at the Montmelò circuit in Barcelona – with a solid double podium finish, as the pair reacted well after difficult qualifying. Redding took second after just two corners, n from mid-race trying to push to close the gap with leader Rea.
Davies’s progression was constant, in the first four laps the Welsh rider overtaking to sixth position, and getting the final podium spot with three laps to go. He said: “Grip problems in qualifying forced me to start far behind on the grid but I managed a good comeback. I need another good start in the Superpole Race to get a good result and start better in Race 2.”
And that the Welsh rider got, a solid fourth in Superpole followed by his Race 2 extraordinary start, leading the field by the fourth lap, and holding the lead to the chequered flag and elevate himself to third in the World Superbike Championship!
As he celebrated the win with his Ducati team Davies said: “It was a great race. The feeling is that we managed to put all the pieces of the puzzle together. Maybe we did it a bit late but the important thing is to have achieved this goal.
“I would like to thank my team who also worked late last night to fix some things on the set up that worked out great. The race pace was very good since the first laps and this allowed me to stay in the lead to manage the race. I am really very satisfied.”
THE test race held at the Anglesey Circuit recently to allow the Welsh Government to evaluate events resuming in Wales went well, and it is understood that an evaluation of getting motorsport back on track will follow.
Organisers felt that the government reaction was positive over the way the whole event was conducted, and how both circuit and participants were trying to get the sport back up and running in a safe and responsible way.
There is also a petition under way to get rallying resumed in Wales, again essentially in a safe and controlled way to protect those involved and of course most importantly the public, and assist motorsporting small businesses and liveihoods.
BACK on two wheels the Oulton Park Circuit presented a literal roller coaster of rides to young Welsh racers last weekend, Joe Thomas, Lewis Jones and Osian Jones having both success and drama respectively.
Osian Jones was hospitalised as a precaution after hitting a bike head of him on Saturday, but thankfully back at the undulating superfast Cheshire track for Sunday, though not racing. A more detailed report will appear next week.