Rovanpera secures win over Evans to bolster championship bid

11th September 2023 0 By Kamron Kent

Toyota’s Kalle Rovanpera secured victory in Greece to extend his championship ambition as his teammate, Elfyn Evans endured a tight battle with Hyundai’s Daniel Sordo.

Three stages lined up the final day of running; Tarzan and Grammeni 1 and 2, the latter being a rehearsal for the Wolf Power Stage.

Following incidents with both leading drivers Thierry Neuville (Hyundai) and Sebastien Ogier (Toyota), on Saturday, it allowed Rovanpera to inherit the rally lead ahead of the final day with over two minutes in hand over Sordo.

This allowed the championship leader to cruise through the final tests with his primary focus on the Wolf Power Stage. At the final stage, Rovanpera put his Yaris through its paces and stormed to maximum points as he stole the Power Stage win by 2.5 seconds over fellow teammate Evans.

Due to Rovanpera’s luxurious position, eyes turned to the battle for second place. It was a two-horse race between Sordo and Evans for the runner-up position, regardless of the outcome the difference was only second or third.

Evans sent a message to Sordo on the Tarzan stage as the Welshman secured the stage win, nine-seconds ahead of his Spanish competitor. By the end of the weekend, it was the Welshman who won the battle to keep his championship hopes alive as Sordo settled into third.

M-Sport Ford’s Ott Tanak and Hyundai’s Esapekka Lappi rounded out the top five, retaining favourable positions after a troubling weekend, in fourth and fifth respectively. Toyota’s Takamoto Katsuta followed Lappi in sixth, nearly one-minute behind.

WRC2 Andreas Mikkelsen completed the weekend as the fastest driver in the subcategory as he overtook Gus Greensmith on Sunday. At the final control line, the Norwegian secured victory in Greece 10.3 seconds ahead of the Briton, seventh and eighth in the standings overall.

Mikkelsen’s fellow WRC2 championship rival, Yohan Rossel was the last WRC2 driver to sit inside the top 10 overall standings in ninth. The Frenchman edged out Ogier by 36 seconds who fell down to 10th after he suffered suspension damage on Saturday afternoon.

Jourdan Serderidis sat as the last WRC-class driver in the overall standings, down in 16th, as the Greek enjoyed his final adventure at the highest pedigree of rally driving.

That’s all for the article; Rovanpera secures win over Evans to bolster championship bid!

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Kamron Kent

Hi, I’m Kamron. I created ApexMotorsports.co.uk in the dying embers of the 2021 Formula 1 world championship. It allowed me freedom to write whatever I wanted to write about which was all things motorsports, my passion.

I have put a lot of effort in over the years to keep this website in its best shape and I’ve loved seeing the brand grow consistently, month-on-month, year-on-year. My ambition is to keep watching this brand grow into a primary outlet of news for all things motorsports whilst fueling my desire to pursue a career in sports journalism, specialising in motorsports.

Kamron Kent

Hi, I'm Kamron. I created ApexMotorsports.co.uk in the dying embers of the 2021 Formula 1 world championship. It allowed me freedom to write whatever I wanted to write about which was all things motorsports, my passion. I have put a lot of effort in over the years to keep this website in its best shape and I've loved seeing the brand grow consistently, month-on-month, year-on-year. My ambition is to keep watching this brand grow into a primary outlet of news for all things motorsports whilst fueling my desire to pursue a career in sports journalism, specialising in motorsports.

CategoryNews Rallying WRC