Damien Smith
Fresh from ending his World Rally Championship victory drought in Croatia, Elfyn Evans was back in a state of woe on Rally Portugal.
The Brit arrived in Porto sharing the championship lead with part-time Toyota Gazoo team-mate Sébastien Ogier, and with the eight-time world champion giving this one a miss, it was an opportunity for the 34-year-old to bolster his claim for a first title. Except it all turned sour on the opening day.
Running first on the rutted, dusty stages was always going to be a disadvantage as Evans’s GR Yaris cleared a path for his rivals, but it didn’t help that he lacked confidence in the handling of his hybrid Toyota – not for the first time. He was well off the pace. Then on the penultimate stage of the day, Evans crashed heavily into trees, wrecking the Yaris beyond any hope of returning to the fray later in the weekend. Fortunately, both he and co-driver Scott Martin emerged without injury – but that was the only good news.
ROVANPERA BACK ON TOP
To make matters worse for Evans, team-mate and reigning champion Kalle Rovanperä put what has been an underwhelming start to his defence solidly behind him with a dominant performance in his Yaris.
Once Ott Tänak’s M-Sport Ford Puma lost time to a tyre leaving its rim, the 22-year-old Finn went unchallenged. He stormed to five stage wins alone on Saturday, then managed his pace to beat Hyundai’s Dani Sordo by a comfy 54.7sec.
Now, Rovanperä’s slump was relative: ahead of the Portuguese round, he was third in the table, only one point off Evans’s score. But such are the expectations heaped on the new sensation of the special stages that his form had raised an eyebrow or two. He was second on the Monte Carlo Rally but found himself overshadowed by the great Ogier and had achieved his points tally only through unremarkable consistency.
Still, it was always likely to be only a matter of time before Rovanperä banked the kind of performance that we started to take for granted last year.
With Evans having crashing out, Tänak’s trouble having limited him to fourth and Hyundai’s Thierry Neuville having been delayed on the final day by a blown turbo, Rovanperä suddenly has a 17-point lead as he chases his second crown.
There’s still a long way to go: eight more rallies. But Portugal might well have been a turning point. Rovanperä’s rivals need to hit back and fast if they’re to stop him.
WHAT A DONUT
There was dismay in Portugal when Oliver Solberg was docked a minute for pulling some celebratory donut
