Evans' WRC title hopes in jeopardy after crash in Monza Rally
World Rally Championship leader Elfyn Evans has crashed out on the 11th timed stage of the Monza Rally, putting his hopes of the title in serious jeopardy.
As snow continued to fall on the closed road stages on the final full day of the rally, Evans slid wide near the end of the 11 km Gerosa stage and dropped off the road into the woods.
Toyota teammate and title contender Sebastien Ogier was the next car through, and it was only a warning from his teammate that prevented him from going off at the same point.
“My first reaction was ‘don’t do the same’: it was incredible,” said Ogier at the end of the stage. “The corner he went off, I mean there was nothing you can do, it’s like being on ice. They (Evans and co-driver Scott Martin) slowed me down and I make just the corner. So it’s just like, I’m very sorry for him.”
Ogier now needs to score 15 points more than Evans in order to win his seventh WRC title in eight years. He holds the overall lead by 22.3 seconds from Hyundai’s Dani Sordo with two stages remaining on Saturday and a final three stages within the Autodromo Nazionale di Monza on Sunday morning.
“Honestly with what I have still ahead the championship is not over,” Ogier added. “I have to make it through and it’s a very big challenge, I mean we had a good fight, we had good fun, but now the last moment is not like fighting it’s surviving!”
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