Elfyn Evans recorded an emphatic stage win to lead Rally Spain by over five seconds after the first test but Takamoto Katsuta is already in the wars after another costly mistake.
Evans, who claimed maximum points on Rally Finland, is in rejuvenated form and remains in the hunt for the title against Sébastien Ogier.
His time on the 12.4-mile Vilaplana showed he meant business, as Evans threaded his Toyota through the test 5.1s faster than second-quickest Thierry Neuville to establish his authority on the event early on.
“Pretty OK actually, car’s working quite OK,” Evans said of his run. “[There were a] few places coming down the hill where I was a bit on the edge but generally clean.”
Katsuta meanwhile is in opposing form to Evans; without a points-scoring finish since Safari Rally Kenya back in June.
The Toyota junior’s Rally Spain curtailed on the very first stage as he approached a tightening right-hander with way too much pace and nosed the protective Armco barrier with force.
Although Katsuta managed to reverse his Yaris WRC and nurse it to the end of the test – recording a time 1m17.8s slower than Evans’ – the damage looked to be terminal as the front-left wheel was hanging loose from the arch and at a wonky angle.
“I don’t know what’s happened,” Katsuta attempted to explain. “I expected not so tight a corner but it obviously tightened.”
Evans in truth was the only really content driver at the end of SS1. Hyundai’s Neuville – who won Rally Spain when it last ran in the WRC in 2019 – said he “tried to drive fast but I was understeering all the time”.
Neuville’s comments were echoed by several others. Ogier, who was three seconds shy of Neuville and 8.1s down on world title rival Evans, had similar issues in his Toyota.
Photo: Hyundai Motorsport
“A bit of understeer and I see that I was too careful, I have to wake up on the next one,” he assessed.
While Evans has established a healthy lead, gaps between the rest remain tight. Ott Tänak – celebrating his 34th birthday today on Friday – was 0.9s down on Ogier in fourth and just 0.2s clear of local hero and team-mate Dani Sordo.
“Missing quite a lot of confidence in the high speed, feels very understeery,” said Tänak. “Not so natural but I try to learn.”
Sordo meanwhile was frustrated by the “dirty” state of the road as he started the stage after seven of his rivals.
“I don’t understand the point to cut some corners you don’t need, they go for nothing and when I arrive there’s so much dirt in the road,” he complained. “The road is very dirty.”
Kalle Rovanperä is an early sixth overall, 1.2s away from Sordo and 10.4s down on the lead, but admitted his “biggest struggle” was “to adjust my driving style to the tire” as opposed to any understeer.
Without a pre-event test, M-Sport’s Rally Spain expectations have to be measured but the SS1 times of Adrien Fourmaux and Gus Greensmith were perhaps disappointing.
Fourmaux was seventh fastest but already 21.2s down on the lead, five seconds quicker than 2C Competition’s Nil Solans who is deputizing for the injured Pierre-Louis Loubet.
Greensmith fared worse, 2.8s down on World Rally Car debutant Solans as he “struggled to get a rhythm”.
“Couldn’t get my driving to be smooth,” Greensmith said. “Not a good start.”
Greensmith was at least quicker than the second 2C Hyundai of Oliver Solberg who rounds out the early top 10. Solberg was 3.5s slower than Greensmith to lie 32.5s off the lead.
Leading positions after SS1
1 Elfyn Evans/Scott Martin (Toyota) 10m16.9s
2 Thierry Neuville/Martijn Wydaeghe (Hyundai) +5.1s
3 Sébastien Ogier/Julien Ingrassia (Toyota) +8.1s
4 Ott Tänak/Martin Järveoja (Hyundai) +9.0s
5 Dani Sordo/Candido Carrera (Hyundai) +9.2s
6 Kalle Rovanperä/Jonne Halttunen (Toyota) +10.4s
7 Adrien Fourmaux/Alexandre Coria (M-Sport Ford) +21.2s
8 Nil Solans/Marc Marti (Hyundai) +26.2s
9 Gus Greensmith/Chris Patterson (M-Sport Ford) +29.0s
10 Oliver Solberg/Craig Drew (Hyundai) +32.5s
