EVANS PROVES HE CAN BEAT THE BEST
Losing isn’t all bad if you’re Elfyn Evans. Having let his shot at Monte Carlo Rally glory“slip away” on the final morning last month, it was a “more determined” Welshman who arrived in Sweden for an event that was truncated by the unseasonable weather, and starved of a meaningful battle for victory once Evans got into his dominant stride.
The sprint-style format (there were a mere 92.30 competitive miles compared to the planned 186.93), allied with a performance that his Toyota team boss, three-time Sweden Rally winner Tommi Makinen, admitted had left him stunned, meant Evans pretty much had the rally won after he edged world champion Ott Tanak by 1.1 seconds on the first stage. Granted, Evans had another eight stages to go and was 0.9s slower than his Estonian rival on the very next run. But that defeat didn’t cost him the overall lead and he was in front heading back into Sweden from Norway – where the rally ventured for two stages on Friday and Saturday.
Despite losing out on the Torsby Sprint stage win to Tanak by 0.2s, Evans completed day one 8.5s in front of the Hyundai driver. “Obviously, the feeling with the car has been really good and you can’t complain with a day like that,” Evans said on Friday afternoon. “Overall it’s good but obviously we have to do it again tomorrow, and who knows what
