The Welshman produced his most convincing display in a Rally1 car to date on his way to a second WRC victory of the season by 39.1s over Hyundai’s Thierry Neuville.
Toyota’s Takamoto Katsuta (+1m36.7s) edged Hyundai’s Teemu Suninen (+1m41.0s) to the final podium position, while Toyota team boss Jari-Matti Latvala’s one-off WRC comeback resulted in an impressive fifth (+4m09.4s), in what was a rally of attrition.
Evans’ second Rally Finland win, following his 2021 triumph, makes him the most successful British driver in the event’s storied 72-year history, also matching Finnish greats Ari Vatanen and Timo Salonen as two-time winners.
Evans and co-driver Scott Martin assumed the rally lead on a rain-affected Friday when Toyota team-mate and championship leader Kalle Rovanpera exited his home event in spectacular fashion on stage eight, the legendary Myhinpaa test.
Rally favourite Rovanpera seemed in control of the rally after taking the lead in stage two, although Evans was able to stay in touch with the Finn, sitting 5.7s behind before Rovanpera rolled to cause terminal chassis damage to his GR Yaris.
The home hero’s surprise retirement handed Evans a 10.9s lead over Neuville, who applied pressure by winning Friday’s final three stages to close the deficit to 6.9s.
However on Saturday Evans blew away the challenge from Neuville, winning seven of the day’s eight stages held in tricky wet conditions to storm into a 32.1s lead. Evans' most impressive run arrived in stage 15 where he took 7.8s out of nearest rival Neuville, who struggled with the rear stability of his i20 N across the day’s stages.
Evans’ blistering Saturday afforded him the opportunity to cruise to his seventh career WRC win. However, he elected to push and claimed the five bonus points by winning the rally-ending Power Stage from Neuville. Evans now trails Rovanpera by 25 points in the championship standings with four rounds remaining.
Source: Autosport