The Japanese will however rejoin the rally on Saturday. The problem emerged on the first stage and ultimately proved terminal after stage two. Rovanpera was the team’s only car to navigate through the schedule as Takamoto Katsuta was forced to retire his third entry after suffering an alternator failure. The Finn, starting second on the road, won three of the eight stages. It was a really fast part of the stage and there were a couple of left handers together and I probably carried a bit more speed around the second one and there was some sand and I just slide ever so slightly wide into the bank and that pitched the car into quite an aggressive roll."įriday proved to be a bittersweet day for Toyota as world champion Kalle Rovanpera completed the eight stages leading the rally by 10.8s from Hyundai’s Dani Sordo.
We had a few checks last night which took some time but it all turned out well. Speaking to media after successfully completing medical checks, Evans said: "We are both perfectly fine. “After inspecting the damage to car #33, the team has taken the decision to retire it from the rally.”
“Elfyn and Scott underwent medical checks after their accident and are both doing well," read a statement from Toyota. The GR Yaris sustained heavy damage in the impact, which triggered a small fire that was quickly extinguished.Įvans and co-driver Scott Martin emerged from the incident unscathed and have since undergone medical checks.Īfter recovering the car, Toyota has now confirmed the damage is too severe to allow Evans to rejoin the rally to salvage points from Sunday’s Power Stage. A drought-breaking victory in Croatia last month meant the Welshman headed to Portugal tied at the top of the championship standings with part-time Toyota team-mate Sebastien Ogier, who isn’t competing in Portugal this weekend.Įvans had been struggling with the balance of GR Yaris throughout the day, having faced the worst of the road conditions.įootage has now revealed that Evans went off the road at speed, resulting in a heavy collision into trees.
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