MOTORSPORT
Damien Smith
RACING LINES
Kalle Rovanperä left rivals in the dust while XE racers struggled to see through it
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 parttime Toyota Gazoo team-mate Sébastien Ogier, and with the eighttime 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.