By Gareth James
Elfyn Evans is gunning for the podium in Finland next month after agonisingly just missing out on the Croatia round of the World Rally Championship.
The Welsh ace finished fourth in his Toyota – just 7.3 secs adrift of third-placed Esapekka Lappi of Hyundai.
Evans did pick up extra points with second place on Sunday’s Power Stage to remain second in the drivers’ standings 55 points behind Toyota team-mate Kalle Rovanpera who dominated in Croatia.
“We were in a pretty intense fight throughout the weekend for the podium places and naturally it’s disappointing not to have made it in the end,” said Evans.
Ride the Estonian rollercoaster with Elfyn and Scott in their nip-and-tuck battle for 3rd place 👀#ToyotaGAZOORacing #GRYaris #WRC #RallyEstonia 🇪🇪 pic.twitter.com/yE1YV1ojDC
— TOYOTA GAZOO Racing WRT (@TGR_WRC) July 22, 2023
“We weren’t a million miles away but unfortunately we just fell a bit short. On Friday it took some time to feel comfortable and I think that’s when the majority of the damage was done in terms of our road position for the rest of the rally.
“Well done to Kalle who was dominant this weekend. It’s hard to be satisfied with our result but we come away with some good points from the Power Stage and from the rally.
“It’s also a good warm-up for Rally Finland and we’ll work hard over the next week to try and do better there.”
Rovanpera produced a remarkable run of 13 consecutive stage wins from Saturday morning until the rally-ending Power Stage – becoming the first driver to have such a streak of fastest times on a WRC round since Sébastien Loeb in Germany 15 years ago.
Rally Finland takes place from August 3-6.
Final Classification (Top 5): 1 Kalle Rovanperä/Jonne Halttunen (Toyota GR YARIS Rally1 HYBRID) 2h36m03.1s
2 Thierry Neuville/Martijn Wydaeghe (Hyundai i20 N Rally1 HYBRID) +52.7s
3 Esapekka Lappi/Janne Ferm (Hyundai i20 N Rally1 HYBRID) +59.5s
4 Elfyn Evans/Scott Martin (Toyota GR YARIS Rally1 HYBRID) +1m06.8s
5 Teemu Suninen/Mikko Markkula (Hyundai i20 N Rally1 HYBRID) +2m21.1s