When your seemingly unstoppable team-mate crashes out and hands you the lead of his home round of the World Rally Championship, blowing such a gilt-edged opportunity would have been unthinkable.
It’s just as well that Elfyn Evans – with co-driver Scott Martin the ultimate wingman – was on top form to capitalise on a rare Kalle Rovanpera slip up – the Finn’s first since the Croatia Rally in 2021 – to win for a second time in Finland and for a second time this year.
World champion Rovanpera’s car-wrecking crash on the eighth stage of the high-speed gravel event sent shockwaves through the service park and, in turn, heaped the pressure on his fellow works Toyota driver in an instant.
Although the rally was still in its relative infancy on Friday afternoon and Thierry Neuville was
