Evans striving to refind driving enjoyment after WRC Acropolis setback

Elfyn Evans says he needs to “get back to normal ways” and “enjoy” being behind the wheel after an Acropolis Rally that severely dented his World Rally Championship title aspirations. 

The Toyota driver headed to Greece hoping to re-ignite his championship hopes after a driveshaft failure, followed by a crash on Sunday in Finland, left the Welshman with a zero-points score. 

However, Evans could only salvage eight points from last week’s Acropolis Rally following a continuation of misfortune. The two-time WRC title runner-up suffered a puncture on the opening stage followed by a turbo failure that left Evans almost 10 minutes adrift. 

A slow speed roll after clipping a rut on Saturday afternoon prompted an early retirement before finishing third in both the Super Sunday classification and the Power Stage. 

With three rounds remaining, the title is still mathematically possible, with Evans sitting 52 points behind championship leader and Acropolis winner Thierry Neuville.

“We had some moments that were not bad but on the whole, it was a pretty poor weekend,” said Evans.

“Obviously, we still need to try our best to finish the season on a high to be ready for next year, but also to do our best for the team. 

“There was no issue with the car [on Sunday]. The car was actually feeling quite good. I think it was a bit of motivation and the trend of how things have been going and I’m just sort of happy to be at the end in a sense and try and get back to normal ways in the next rounds. 

“We need to get back to normal ways and finish with a good rhythm and a good feeling again, and get back to enjoying being behind the wheel a bit because honestly the last rally and half has been difficult.”

Evans initially thought that the puncture on the opening stage was his fault for hitting a compression but upon reviewing the data it appears that once again bad luck struck. 

“The puncture actually came from a stone in the line when we checked the videos. I don’t know what you can do about that,” he added.

“Of course, at the time I was ready to put my hands top as we knew there was compression and it was a coincidence that after we hit the puncture alarm came on. The reason I had such an impact in this place was because the tyre was so soft.”

Watch: EKO Acropolis Rally Greece Sunday Highlights