Motorsport: Evans clinches maiden WRC Drivers' title to become the first British title winner in 25 years
The Irish crew of Jon Armstrong/Shane Byrne (Ford Puma Rally1) had a season best seventh place finish in the WRC on Rally Italia Sardegna. Pic: Jaanus Ree / Red Bull Content Pool
In the most dramatic of finishes in the World Rally Championship, Welsh driver Elfyn Evans clinched his maiden WRC Drivers' title that appeared to be slipping from his grasp until three corners from the finish of the final and deciding stage of Rally Italia Sardegna where his title rival Sweden's Oliver Solberg lost time with an off-road excursion.
It ended the title fight in the most extraordinary circumstances and while Solberg got back on the stage to claim the rally victory, Evans, a five-time championship runner-up, took his maiden WRC championship win to become the first British driver to win the title in 25 years.
It was an unprecedented finish for the WRC as the Rally1 era came to an end with three drivers Evans, Solberg and Finland's Sami Pajari all seeking their maiden title and all in contention right to the very final stage.
Solberg finished 57.6s ahead of Sebastien Ogier with Pajari 39.8s further behind to complete a Toyota top three. Elsewhere, Jon Armstrong (Ford Puma Rally1) co-driven by Shane Byrne had a season best finish of seventh with teammates Josh McErlean/Eoin Treacy finishing twenty-second after their Ford Puma stopped twice on Sunday's opening stage.
Afterwards, Armstrong said, "It has been good to have a clean weekend and the strongest result we have had so far. It has not been an easy year. This was a rally to show we can build a weekend. Big thanks to M-Sport, John Coyne, Motorsport Ireland Academy and my co-driver Shane."
The event took a dramatic turn on Saturday's third stage (SS10) when rally leader Thierry Neuville was forced to retire after he ripped the rear left wheel off his Hyundai i20 Rally1 just a kilometre into the stage.
His demise saw the momentum in the title race sway towards new rally leader Solberg. However, a second puncture for Neuville's teammate Adrien Fourmaux gave Evans the opportunity to claw back more points. Fourmaux lost a minute and 46.1s when he stopped to change the left-rear wheel promoting Sami Pajari and Evans up to third and fourth respectively. With his sights of event victory well gone, Fourmaux made a strong push on the day's final stage to move ahead of Evans by 6.4s.
Solberg ended the day with a 33.6s lead over teammate Sebastien Ogier with championship contender Pajari completing a Toyota lock-out of the top three.
For most of Saturday's stage McErlean held seventh spot as he struggled with having to clean the stage. On SS10 he had a close encounter with a tree, but with Neuville's retirement on SS11 he was up to sixth. Unfortunately, on the very next stage he went off the road and damaged his Ford Puma. He managed to complete the day but not before he collected a two-minute and 22-second penalty for late arrival (sorting repairs) at a control and later, a five-minute penalty as a result of a stewards decision, he dropped to sixteenth overnight; Armstrong was seventh.
Finely poised, Evans was on course to pick up Super Sunday points to boost his championship bid until drama on the penultimate stage when he had to stop and change a front right wheel puncture four kilometres into the stage. Fortunately, he didn't lose his fifth-place position but it ended his chance of Super Sunday points.
Solberg continued to lead. With so many ongoing permutations as to who would win the championship, it all boiled down to one - between Solberg and Evans - quickest on the Power Stage. Within sight of the finish line, it appeared Solberg was in control and had a quicker time than Evans - until his excursion - that gave the title to Evans - agony and ecstasy.
Meanwhile, Monaghan's Josh Moffett (Hyundai i20 R5) and co-driver Andy Hayes won the IDS Laser Laois Rally where they finished 35.9s ahead of the Skoda Fabia RS Rally2 of Derry's Jordan and Paul Hone. Moffett's main rivals in the Trailer Parts and Spares Irish Forest Championship, Mark Donnelly/Martin Brady (Skoda Fabia RS Rally2) retired at the end of the second stage having hit a rock that damaged the rear differential. Donnelly led Moffett by 0.6s after SS1 with the latter going ahead by 1.6s on SS2.
Carlow's David Condell and co-driver Michael Coady (Skoda Fabia RS Rally2) finished the event 18.9s further behind in third. Moffett has won the series with a round to spare and joins his brother Sam as the only other driver to have won all three major Irish championships - Irish Tarmac, Irish National and Irish Forest - in the same season.
1. O. Solberg/E. Edmondson (Toyota GR Yaris Rally1) 3h. 24m. 27s; 2. S. Ogier/V. Landais (Toyota GR Yaris Rally1)+57.6s; 3. S. Pajari/M. Salminen (Toyota GR Yaris Rally1)+1m. 37.4s; 4. A. Fourmaux/A. Coria (Hyundai i20 N Rally1)+2m. 38.6s; 5. E. Evans/S. Martin (Toyota GR Yaris Rally1)+4m. 48.1s; 6. T. Katsuta/A. Johnston (Toyota GR Yaris Rally1)+6m. 02.4s; 7. J. Armstrong/S. Byrne (Ford Puma Rally1)+7. 32.2s; 8. R. Korhonen/A. Viinikka (Toyota GR Yaris Rally2)+12m. 10.4s; 9. G. Greensmith/J. Andersson (Toyota GR Yaris Rally2)+13m. 02.2s; 10. T. Suninen/J. Hussi (Toyota GR Yaris Rally2)+13m. 02.2s.
1. E. Evans 243pts; 2. O. Solberg 238pts; 2. S. Pajari 237pts; 4. S. Ogier 189pts; 5. A. Fourmaux 183pts; 6. T. Katsuta 175pts; 7. T. Neuville 134pts; 8. H. Paddon 38pts; 9. J. McErlean 35; 10. E. Lappi 33pts.
1. J. Moffett/A. Hayes (Hyundai i20 R5) 39m. 40.2s; 2. J. Hone/P. Hone (Skoda Fabia RS Rally2)+35.9s; 3. D. Condell/M. Coady (Skoda Fabia RS Rally2)+54.8s; 4. J. Brennan/J. McGrath (Ford Fiesta Rally2)+1m. 40.3s; 5. G. Reidy/M. Breen (Ford Fiesta Rally2)+3m. 14.1s. 6. C. McCrossan/M. McMahon (Skoda Fabia RS Rally2)+3m. 39.6s.
CONNECT WITH US TODAY
Be the first to know the latest news and updates
