Elfyn Evans and Scott Martin clinched victory on Rally Sweden which ended in Umea today. The Toyota Gazoo Racing driver banked the Super Sunday points and missed out on the Wolf Power Stage bonus by less than a tenth of a second.
Remarkably, despite fighting for the WRC title last year, it is Evan’s first victory since Kenya last year.
Victory in Sweden propels the Welshman to the top of the championship standings with a 13- point lead heading into Safari Rally Kenya next month.
“Obviously pretty chuffed and relieved right now,” Evans said. “We were not sure how the Power Stage was going to look. Thanks to the team, they’ve done an incredible job again, and a Toyota 1-2-3-4 feels amazing. It’s always an amazing atmosphere in Sweden and it’s a special rally for many reasons.”
Takamoto Katsuta and Aaron Johnston gave their all today in their chase for maximum bonus points, winning the penultimate stage, but had to give best to the flying Evans by one second in the Super Sunday standings. Reflecting on their rally, and Katsuta’s drop in pace on Saturday, the Japanese ace said: “I am not really happy of course,” he said. “It could have been so much better, especially yesterday,” he admitted. “I just need to keep improving and push more.”
Sami Pajari and Marko Salminen drove superbly all weekend to claim their career second podium and complete a second consecutive podium clean sweep for Toyota, a feat that was last achieved by Citroen back in 2010.
Oliver Solberg and Elliot Edmondson hung on to fourth, comfortably ahead of the leading Hyundai Shell Mobis crew of Adrien Fourmaux and Alex Coria.
Esapekka Lappi and Enni Mälkönen held the position throughout Saturday and early Sunday until a sudden, mysterious loss of performance on the penultimate stage dropped them behind their French teammate.
Thierry Neuville and Martijn Wydaeghe had a disastrous weekend but won the Wolf Power Stage to close out their Nordic adventure on a positive note.
Jon Armstrong and Shayne Byrne easily top-scored for M-Sport Ford after setting a string of top five and six stage times in their Puma in only their second outing in the top rally class.
Josh McErlean and Eoin Treacy ended ninth overall with Roope Korhonen and Anssi Viinikka rounding out the top ten and winning the WRC2 category.
Read Motorsport Monday tomorrow for a full WRC Rally Sweden report.
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