Elfyn Evans admitted it is “looking difficult” to claim a maiden World Rally Championship title after leaving Rally Finland without scoring any points.
The Toyota driver has dropped to fourth in the standings, 36 points adrift of championship leader Thierry Neuville after crashing out on the penultimate stage.
Evans was firmly in the victory hunt after trailing then leader and team-mate Kalle Rovanpera by eight seconds at the end of Friday.
However, the Welshman’s rally began to unravel when his GR Yaris suffered a driveshaft failure on Saturday morning. Evans incurred a 2m40s penalty for being 16 minutes late out of the midday service following a lengthy repair that put him outside of the points-paying positions at the end of Saturday.
Evans attempted to salvage his weekend by challenging for Super Sunday points before being caught out by the first corner on stage 19 that resulted in a rally-ending accident.
“It was a corner we managed quite OK in the morning [loop]. But I had a bit of understeer in the ruts in the afternoon, and we were caught out from there really,” said Evans.
Elfyn Evans, Scott Martin, Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT Toyota GR Yaris Rally1
Photo by: Red Bull Content Pool
“It feels like a bit of a clumsy accident looking back at it, but there wasn’t anything I could do to save it.
“We know that it’s a tricky corner anyway, but unfortunately it was more the way the car reacted in the rut more than the ultimate speed, it is one of those things.”
With Evans on the sidelines and rally leader Rovanpera crashing out, Neuville left the rally with a healthy haul of 23 points.
While Evans conceded his title bid has been damaged, the Toyota driver is not giving up on the championship aspirations with four events in Greece, Chile, Central Europe and Japan remaining.
“For the championship, it is looking difficult now and we’ve definitely done a lot of damage this weekend. In the end we had to give it a shot, let’s say, but for the rest of the year, it still all open, and we’ll continue to give our best until the end,” Evans added.
“We know things can change quickly, but with four rounds to go the chances of clawing that deficit back is less and less, but we still have to give our all to the end.”