By Paul Evans
Elfyn Evans has promised to ‘come out fighting’ after tough day at Rally Sweden, which has witnessed the 29-year Dolgellau M-Sport Ford Fiesta RS WRC driver slip and slide outside the top 10.
Evans ended a difficult day in 11th position – and the fact that he’s ahead of his M-Sport Ford team-mate and defending world champion Sébastien Ogier won’t come as much consolation either, as he’s 2min 41.3secs behind the rally leader.
Having been just 3.5secs off the lead after last night’s super special stage in Karlstad, Evans, running sixth on the road today, had to negotiated fresh snow and deep icy ruts as he lost time in the wintry conditions. Co-driven by Daniel Barritt, he hit a “black clump on the inside of a corner” on SS4 and picked up a right rear puncture, and then spun into a snow bank on SS6 and lost more time reversing out.
“I’m glad to get today over with,” said Eflyn. “It’s been a tough day for sure. We need to have a rethink tonight and come out fighting tomorrow.”
It’s been a difficult first full day of competition for many in Sweden, particularly those drivers obliged, thanks to their positions at the sharp end of the WRC points table, to run first on the road – with them all struggling through thick fresh snow, ruts and odd lines left by the historic rally cars that have been running ahead of the main event.
Monte Carlo Rally winner and WRC leader Sébastien Ogier, who ran first on the road, finished the day in a lowly 12th position in his Fiesta RS WRC, while Toyota driver Ott Tänak, running immediately behind Ogier, said the rally organisers could “screw themselves” after discovering how little fresh snow had been ploughed away before the WRC cars had gone into battle. He later apologised, admitting he had over-reacted.
One team that is happy tonight is Hyundai. It currently locks-out the top three positions at the overnight halt, courtesy of some fine winter driving by Thierry Neuville, Andreas Mikkelsen and Hayden Paddon.
Rally Sweden continues tomorrow and ends on Sunday afternoon.
Positions after SS8
1. Thierry Neuville / Nicolas Gilsoul (Hyundai i20 Coupe WRC)….1h16m13.1s
2. Andreas Mikkelsen / Ander Jaeger (Hyundai i20 Coupe WRC)….+4.9
3. Hayden Paddon / Seb Marshall (Hyundai i20 Coupe WRC)….+12.1
4. Craig Breen / Scott Martin (Citroen DS3 WRC)….+12.6
5. Mads Østberg / Torstein Eriksen (Citroen DS3 WRC)….+13.2
6. Teemu Suninen / Mikko Markkula (Ford Fiesta WRC)….+29.6
11. Elfyn Evans / Daniel Barritt (Ford Fiesta WRC) +2:31.4