Damien Smith
Victory was always going to be hollow for whoever took the spoils on Rally Croatia. The awful loss of Craig Breen, killed in a pre-event testing crash, devastated the close-knit World Rally Championship community and made this one to simply get through.
No wonder Elfyn Evans was a jumble of emotions at the finish. The Brit scored his first win since his inspired Rally Finland drive in 2021 and his first on an asphalt surface. In the wake of that landmark win 18 months ago, Evans has endured frustration as sensational young team-mate Kalle Rovanperä has shot into the rally firmament, displacing him as the driver most likely to succeed the great Sébastien Ogier as Toyota Gazoo’s principal player. Rovanperä scorched to a first world title last year a day after his 22nd birthday and is considered likely to win multiple crowns over the rest of this decade, so Evans needed this.
Sure, it was an inherited win. Hyundai’s Thierry Neuville crashed out of the lead on Saturday morning and both Rovanperä and Ogier were ruled out of contention on the opening day by mid-stage wheel changes, after hitting the same pothole (UK drivers will surely sympathise). Ott Tänak’s M-Sport Ford was also a threat until transmission and hydraulic troubles blunted his attack. But after such a drought, Evans will take it. Except in these circumstances, how could he relish it?
“Obviously we’ve been working towards this for a long time, but it all feels so insignificant at the moment,” he said at the finish. “After the focus of the weekend, we’re all back to missing our friend now. Straight away after coming across the finish line, that’s all we can think about. We promised Craig’s family we would enjoy the weekend, and we’ve done that. We’re all thinking of them right now.”
Such is the competitive state of the WRC this year that Evans has catapulted from fifth to first in the standings, equal with Ogier, who is committed to only a part-time campaign once again this season. Rovanperä has yet to take the top step after four rounds of 13 this season yet lies just a point behind his team-mates, with Tänak a further three in arrears.
They will race on in Portugal from 11-14 May, determined to fight in Breen’s honour, as he would have wanted. The Irishman won’t be forgotten.
CAMMISH DOUBLES UP
The 2023 British Touring Car Championship opener was all too predictable – in that it wasn’t.
Wet-dry conditions at Donington Park threw extra jeopardy into the tin-top pot and out of it came a double win for Napa Racing’s Dan Cammish. Just what he neede
