WRC
Evans in Olympic form in Finland, Rovanperä withdraws
Kalle Rovanperä (Toyota) suffered an accident on Saturday morning. © Nikos Katikis / DPPI
The early start of the second stage of the Rally de Finlande 2021 a amplement convenu à Elfyn Evans (Toyota). Le Gallois a enchaîné les temps scratch (4) pour prendre la tête des opérations au terme de la première boucle ce samedi 2 octobre au milieu de la forêt scandinave.
The Yaris WRC constantly chipped away at the leader last night, Craig Breen (Hyundai). Très prudent dans ses déclarations aux points stops des spéciales, Elfyn Evans laisse pourtant ses rivaux sans réponse.
“Elfyn found something I don’t have. Bravo to him for the moment, there is nothing to do”, admitted Craig Breen. Ott Tänak (Hyundai) is also whipping but the 2019 world champion is now flirting with the symbolic bar of 10” outlay. Andrea Adamo's men will have to find a solution in order to catch up with the leader.
Behind this leading trio, Esapekka Lappi (Toyota) plays the spoilsport. On his private Yaris, the Finn returned to the foot of the podium thanks to the exit of his compatriot Kalle Rovanperä in SS10. His Toyota Yaris WRC hit a pile of gravel and the front of the car was too damaged to continue. Too bad because the crowd's favorite was seen as a contender for victory before kick-off.
The Toyota clan also lost Takamoto Katsuta. The Japanese did too much to keep the pace set by the chase group and ended his race in a spin and damaged mechanics following an impact against the shoulder.
These two disappearances from the ranking allowed Thierry Neuville (Hyundai) and Sébastien Ogier (Toyota) to glean two positions for free. Usual opponents, they will bicker alone for fifth place, because the Ford Fiestas of Gus Greensmith (7th) and Adrien fourmaux (8th) are relegated to at least 2 minutes.
As for WRC2, there was no shortage of incidents. Oliver Solberg (Hyundai) didn't even finish a stage today and ended up on the roof, fortunately without serious damage. Nikolay Gryazin (Volkswagen) suffered two punctures in two successive stages. Only Teemu Suninen (Volkswagen) and Mads Ostberg (Citroën) kept a constant pace, to the Finn's advantage.
General classification :
Medhi Casaurang
Passionate about the history of motorsport across all disciplines, I learned to read thanks to AUTOhebdo. At least that's what my parents tell everyone when they see my name inside!
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