The coronavirus-enforced cancellation of this month’s Renties Ypres Rally Belgium could have a huge effect on the destination of this year’s FIA World Rally Championship crown.
It means championship leader Elfyn Evans takes a 14-point advantage into the one remaining round, to be held in Monza, Italy, at the start of next month, with just 30 points still to play for. Only Toyota Gazoo Racing team-mate Sebastian Ogier is still in with a realistic chance of overhauling Evans’ lead, with the Hyundai pair of Thierry Neuville and defending champ Ott Tanak still in with a mathematical, albeit remote chance of the title. Should Evans be successful he will become the first Welshman ever to be crowned world champion.
Evans struck a note of caution, saying, “You can look at it both ways. If I had an issue with two rounds left, there would still have been one remaining rally to make up any lost ground. Now, should anything go wrong in Italy, the job is probably finished – there will be no opportunity to claw back points. In one way, of course, the title is closer but in reality things are still open and anything can still happen in the one remaining round, and that assumes that Monza will run to a full itinerary and full points will be awarded, as we currently expect.”
The truncated, now seven-round championship has been a fruitful one in the 31-year-old’s quest to become only the third Briton, after Colin McCrae 25 years ago and Richard Burns in 2001, to lift the WRC crown. The Dolegellau-born driver is the only one to have run multiple rounds in 2020, and is yet to finish outside the top four in any event.
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