(Reuters) – Elfyn Evans won Rally Finland on Sunday to keep alive his world championship hopes and cut Toyota team mate Sebastien Ogier’s overall lead to 24 points with two rounds remaining.
The Welshman secured his fifth career win by finishing 14.1 seconds ahead of Hyundai’s Estonian Ott Tanak, the 2019 world champion who had been chasing his third successive win in the gravel event.
Ireland’s Craig Breen, the leader after the first leg, was third for Hyundai with Finnish driver Esapekka Lappi fourth for Toyota and Ogier fifth in the fastest round on the calendar.
Evans gained five bonus points for winning the final Power Stage, ahead of Tanak and Lappi. Toyota’s Takamoto Katsuta took two extra points and Breen one while Ogier failed to add to his tally.
The Frenchman, chasing his eighth world title, had been handed a one-minute penalty and fined 800 euros ($930) on Saturday for not fastening his helmet strap correctly.
He can still wrap up the title at the next round in Spain on Oct. 17 if results go his way. The season ends at Italy’s Monza circuit in November.
($1 = 0.8625 euros)
(Reporting by Alan Baldwin in London, editing by Ed Osmond)
