Elfyn Evans admitted it’s “trying tough” to say a maiden World Rally Championship title after leaving Rally Finland with out scoring any factors.
The Toyota driver has dropped to fourth within the standings, 36 factors adrift of championship chief Thierry Neuville after crashing out on the penultimate stage.
Evans was firmly within the victory hunt after trailing then chief and team-mate Kalle Rovanpera by eight seconds on the finish of Friday.
Nevertheless, the Welshman’s rally started to unravel when his GR Yaris suffered a driveshaft failure on Saturday morning. Evans incurred a 2m40s penalty for being 16 minutes late out of the noon service following a prolonged restore that put him exterior of the points-paying positions on the finish of Saturday.
Evans tried to salvage his weekend by difficult for Tremendous Sunday factors earlier than being caught out by the primary nook on stage 19 that resulted in a rally-ending accident.
“It was a nook we managed fairly OK within the morning [loop]. However I had a little bit of understeer within the ruts within the afternoon, and we had been caught out from there actually,” mentioned Evans.
Elfyn Evans, Scott Martin, Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT Toyota GR Yaris Rally1
Photograph by: Crimson Bull Content material Pool
“It looks like a little bit of a slipshod accident trying again at it, however there wasn’t something I may do to put it aside.
“We all know that it is a difficult nook anyway, however sadly it was extra the way in which the automotive reacted within the rut greater than the final word velocity, it’s a type of issues.”
With Evans on the sidelines and rally chief Rovanpera crashing out, Neuville left the rally with a wholesome haul of 23 factors.
Whereas Evans conceded his title bid has been broken, the Toyota driver will not be giving up on the championship aspirations with 4 occasions in Greece, Chile, Central Europe and Japan remaining.
“For the championship, it’s trying tough now and we have undoubtedly achieved plenty of harm this weekend. Ultimately we needed to give it a shot, let’s say, however for the remainder of the yr, it nonetheless all open, and we’ll proceed to offer our greatest till the tip,” Evans added.
“We all know issues can change rapidly, however with 4 rounds to go the probabilities of clawing that deficit again is much less and fewer, however we nonetheless have to offer our all to the tip.”
