World Rally Champion Elfyn Evans says he couldn’t believe what he was seeing when his title rival Oliver Solberg crashed off the road on the Rally Italy Sardinia powerstage.
The Swede’s mistake cost him the world title and helped Evans, series leader since April, lift his maiden crown.
Having completed his run of the Sassari-Argentiera test, which concluded the event and the season, Evans and co-driver Scott Martin joined the rest of the crews in watching their Toyota team-mates descend to the beach-side finish. They did so in the knowledge that the faster of the two GR Yaris Rally1 crews would be champion.
Evans told DirtFish: “I was quite sure that I hadn’t done enough. It was a huge push that I put on, but the stage was not clean enough to be as fast as it needed to be, really.
“I was struggling quite a bit in the stage, but then seeing Oliver go off… I couldn’t believe my eyes, it was so close to the finish.
“I thought, somehow, the driving of the powerstage had almost finished really. It was difficult to believe, but obviously the championship wasn’t won or lost then, but it’s been a season’s work.”
Predictably, Evans wanted to marshal immediate caution after Solberg went off the road. He knew his rival was 1.9 seconds faster at the final split – and wanted confirmation before celebration.
He added: “I had a lot of doubt initially, because dad (Gwyndaf Evans) celebrated very early and for me it was a bit too early. So yeah, I had a lot of doubt and I didn’t know what to think after that, to be honest, for quite some time. It’s more relief now.”
As the seventh Toyota driver to win the championship in the history of the Japanese manufacturer’s WRC participation, Evans admitted his feet would remain very firmly planted.
“I don’t think it’s going to change a lot in my life, honestly,” he said. “In the end, you know, I’ve had a very great, long career. Of course, this was the ultimate goal. And of course, we’ve achieved that now. But in the end, life will go on.
“Like always, I think it’s a nice token and a way to thank everybody that supported me throughout my career. It feels like we achieved something together, the team, the family. Scott [Martin, co-driver] as well, obviously, has been a really key part over the success of the last few years since he joined. There’s been so many people that have been part of my career, it wouldn’t be fair to start listing people, but there’s a lot there to thank.
“We have tried [to win the title] for a long time, that’s true. You know, not always, maybe been all-out fastest, but not far away either. Unable to put it on quite often, when it mattered, but just somehow never got everything together. But obviously this year it’s worked out.”
