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Jyväskylä (Finland) (AFP)
Britain’s Elvin Evans (Toyota) scored on Sunday the Finland Rally and cuts the gaps in the World Cup (WRC) with Frenchman Sebastien Ogier (Toyota), who has 24 points in qualifying with two rounds until the end of the season. .
On the sometimes narrow Finnish roads, the Toyota driver was able to resist the attacks of Estonian Ott Tanak (Hyundai), the world champion in 2019 but was already out of the title race. Ireland’s Craig Breen (Hyundai) completed the podium in just over 40 seconds.
“I am very happy to be able to give the team (based in Jyväskylä) a win in their national rally,” the winner congratulated himself on the arrival of the Power Stage in which he added an additional five points.
If for Toyota boss Jari-Matti Latvala, Evans “certainly wasn’t a favorite in this appointment, he proved to be the fastest man on the weekend”.
He praised the former Finnish rider, also a winner in his country: “He did an amazing job.”
Ogier, who finished fifth, sported his first shot at his eighth world title this weekend, although the options are slim.
Ogier had confirmed before the start of the race, from which he got ten points: “The only bad result will be getting zero points, and everything else will be a correct result from the best of the World Cup.”
– WRC World Cup between two –
The Frenchman failed to score points at Power Stage and currently has 190 points in the World Cup against 166 for Evans, capitalizing on his advantage from 44 to 24.
A maximum of 60 points must still be distributed in the last two tests, in Spain from 14 to 17 October and in Monza (Italy) from 19 to 21 November.
At the foot of the podium on Sunday, Esapekka Lappi (Toyota), who returned to WRC for a test, attracted a lot of attention this weekend at the wheel of his own Yaris.
The Finn hasn’t been driving in First Class since last year, after leaving Ford.
The North Rally was marked by the abandonment of Belgian Thierry Nouvel (Hyundai) on Saturday due to a radiator problem and the departure of the track on the same day from local prodigy Calle Rovanpera (Toyota), who was still competitive on Sunday.
Both drivers, with options to win the world championship before the weekend, are no longer eligible for the title.
With his second win of the season, after Portugal – and his first in Finland – Evans is 24 points behind Ogier and brings the excitement to the final stage of the Drivers’ World Championship.
In the Builders World Cup, Toyota still leads with 441 points, ahead of Hyundai, with 380 points.
© 2021 AFP
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