By Paul Evans
Elfyn Evans finished the 2018 FIA World Rally Championship season off in style by finishing sixth on Rally Australia – underlining his ‘team-mate of the year’ status by helping Sébastien Ogier/Julien Ingrassia win their sixth world title.
The destiny of this year’s title was decided when rivals Thierry Neuville/Nicolas Gilsoul clipped a tree and retired their Hyundai i20 Coupe WRC on the final day.
Ott Tänak/Martin Järveoja, who had an outside chance of winning the title, also crashed out of the event in their Toyota Yaris WRC.
“Congratulations to Seb, Julien and the whole team,” said Evans. “I’m glad they were able to secure this one and – even though it wasn’t always easy – I’m glad we were able to help them where we could. Obviously for various reasons our season didn’t go the way we wanted it to, but the speed was there and hopefully we’ll have a chance to prove that again next year.”
“Huge congratulations to Sébastien and Julien on winning a remarkable sixth FIA World Rally Championship title – they’re second in the fantastic Ford Fiesta WRC,” added Global Director of Ford Performance Motorsport, Mark Rushbrook. “This achievement was the result of a great team effort throughout the whole season and everyone at both M-Sport and Ford should be immensely proud.”
Rally Australia – top placed finishers
1. Jari-Matti Latvala / Miikka Anttila (Toyota Yaris WRC) 2:59:52.0
2. Hayden Paddon / Sebastian Marshall (Hyundai i20 Coupe WRC) +32.5
3. Mads Østberg / Torstein Eriksen (Citroen C3 WRC) +52.2
4. Esapekka Lappi / Janne Ferm (Toyota Yaris WRC) +1:02.3
5. Sébastien Ogier / Julien Ingrassia (Ford Fiesta WRC) +2:30.8
6. Elfyn Evans / Daniel Barritt (Ford Fiesta WRC) +3:05.1
7. Craig Breen / Scott Martin (Citroen C3 WRC) +8:59.0
WRC for Drivers’
1. Sébastien Ogier – 219pts
2. Thierry Neuville – 201
3. Ott Tänak – 181
4. Jari-Matti Latvala – 128
5. Esapekka Lappi – 126
6. Andreas Mikkelsen – 84
7. Elfyn Evans – 80
8. Hayden Paddon – 73
9. Dani Sordo – 71
10. Mads Østberg – 70
WRC for Manufacturers’
1. Toyota Gazoo Racing WRC – 368pts
2. Hyundai Motorsport – 341
3. M-Sport Ford World Rally Team – 324
4. Citroen Total Abu Dhabi World Rally Team – 237