While Elfyn Evans, with whom he had been battling since the start, had reduced his gap to 2.6, the Belgian made a mistake in SS18, the penultimate special. His Hyundai came out of the bushes at the start of a left turn approached with a little too much speed. And if our compatriot managed to reach the finish, he would give up a good twenty seconds, all hope of success and his rear wing. Impossible in these conditions to do better than third overall, sixth in the “Super Sunday”, without any points in the Power Stage.
Ogier plays Evans to win, Neuville limits the damage
Evans also at fault
But, just like Adrien Fourmaux leaving a quarter of an hour there to repair a wishbone, Elfyn Evans was also trapped there. “I regret this spin,” railed the Welshman, having to hand over victory, his fifty-ninth, to his teammate Sébastien Ogier by less than ten seconds.
Ogier: “Happy to have been able to show that I still have pace.”
“I knew my starting position would be handicapping on Friday, but I'm happy to have been able to show that I still had pace,” welcomed the eight-time world champion.
The only Yaris driver candidate for the title this year, Elfyn Evans only registered four small units on the day. Perfectly tied on Friday evening, Thierry Neuville and Elfyn Evans left Croatia with the same number of points: nineteen, barely two less than the French winner, Ott Tanak, 4th overall, ahead of them with twenty points.
As at the Safari therefore, thanks to the new points system introduced this year and the eighteen points provisioned by leading on Saturday evening, our representative still limits the damage well since he maintains his six points lead over his closest rival (86 at 80) and increases his lead over the third who remains Adrien Fourmaux (59). It is therefore again he who will have the difficult task of making the mark in Portugal in three weeks where the Toyotas of Sébastien Ogier, but also of Kalle Rovanpera will go far away and therefore favorites.
