Elfyn Evans has explained how he paid the price for an unfortunate “double whammy” of events that resulted in losing the Rally Chile lead to Toyota team-mate Kalle Rovanpera.
Evans had enjoyed one of the strongest Saturday mornings of the season, winning two of the three stages to open up an 11.3s lead over reigning world champion Rovanpera.
But the Welshman, searching for a his first win in a frustrating campaign, witnessed his work unravel as thick fog descended on stage 11.
Evans appeared to suffer the worst of the conditions that severely hampered visibility and reduced him to a crawl at places in the stage.
Evans lost 24.1s in the test and relinquished the lead to Rovanpera. To rub salt into the wounds, Evans had opted to run his soft tyres in the stage and was unable to make use of them due to the poor visibility.
Rovanpera saved his softs for the wetter stage 12, the final test of the loop, and maximised the grip advantage they offered to open up a 15.1s advantage over Evans heading into Sunday’s four stages.
“The fog was really really bad in the middle one [stage],” reflected Evans.
“It was like a bit of a double whammy as we decided to play our softs for this stage and of course I couldn’t make the most of it as I couldn’t see where I was going. Then we suffered a bit in the last one, as Kalle had two softs to use.
Elfyn Evans, Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT
Photo by: McKlein / Motorsport Images
“Our understanding was that the [last] stage was more dry than the reality, so I was not so happy with the last two stages.
“The fog was so dense that I couldn’t see the edge of the road. I was literally stopped in a few places as I had no idea where the edge of the road was and where we were heading, so that was quite bad.
“We can be pretty pleased with the performance overall. Of course you naturally feel disappointed, having had a good couple of days behind the wheel on the right trajectory. But then to get hit with the conditions we did was not ideal.”
Rovanpera admitted his Saturday was a day of two halves, having initially lost out to Evans in the morning before the tables turned in the afternoon.
“We were definitely not so strong in the morning and then when the weather got more damp and tricky with all the fog we were much stronger,” said Rovanpera, who is aiming for his fourth win of the season.
“I would say stage 11 was the most foggy condition I have ever driven, and even on a 100-metre straight you are going recce speed because you don’t know where the road is, as you can barely see in front of you. It was really difficult conditions, but we managed it.
“There is still a long day to go and like we saw in Finland [where I crashed from the lead] sometimes it is not up to you what happens in rallying.
“But for the team it was important to get a one-two in points on Saturday and we will try to bring as many points as we can on Sunday.”
