Hearts went out to M-Sport driver Elfyn Evans on the final stage of the Tour de Corse Rally on Sunday, when he was cruelly robbed of victory due to a front puncture.
The Welshman had put his Ford Fiesta in a winning position after blitzing Thierry Neuville by an incredible 16 seconds on the previous stage, only to see his 11.5 second lead disappear as quickly as the air from his right front Michelin tyre.
Like Ott Tanak’s lost victory in Poland in 2017, once again an M-Sport car was set for a victory when not even the most ardent Ford fans really gave the team a hope leading into the rally.
It was gut-wrenching for Evans, who similarly lost victory to Neuville in Argentina in 2017 on the final stage.
Out of the disappointment, however, came plenty of positives not only for Evans, but for M-Sport.
Before Corsica, you would have got attractive odds on a Fiesta finishing in the top three, let alone winning the rally. For them to have both cars finishing in the top five will give the British-based team a huge boost as the season moves forward.
For blue oval fans, it’s just a shame that the WRC doesn’t return to the tarmac until late August.
To rub salt into Evans’ fresh wounds, his podium finish was perhaps further tainted when, embarrassingly, his trophy for third place was presented to him by a Michelin representative ….
You can just imagine what the quietly spoken Evans really wanted to say when receiving his trophy!
On the other side of the coin, rally winner, Thierry Neuville, did himself no favours whatsoever in the popularity stakes with a foul-mouthed tirade at the end of the final stage.
Not content with complaining about his car’s set-up for much of the weekend, the Belgian blurted on live television: “I pushed like hell, but my time was ‘f***ng sh*t”.
For a driver paid millions of dollars to drive at the top level, you’d hope that the WRC hierarchy come down hard on Neuville for his rant, at least with a significant fine.
Gracious in victory, however, was Hyundai boss Andrea Adamo.
“We would have finished in second place – which itself would have been an encouraging result and thanks to the fantastic efforts of Thierry and Nicolas – but to win truly you have to be the fastest and on this occasion we were not,” Adamo said.
“Taking first place is of course a very positive thing for our team. We have been pushing hard and this will definitely act as a morale boost, but we have to be clear with ourselves where we are performance-wise, and where we need to be.”
Elfyn Evans was the moral victor in Corsica, but the record books will forever show that it was Thierry Neuville who took the victory.
And that’s a pill that will always be hard to swallow for the Welshman.
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