Elfyn Evans and Daniel Barritt may have struggled to find their usual pace this weekend, but a controlled and error-free drive behind the wheel of their EcoBoost-powered Ford Fiesta WRC delivered a solid sixth place.
The Brits had been hoping for more, but they certainly had no issues in the fog which on the first pass of ‘Cuchilla Nevada – Rio Pintos’ (SS11). Whereas others struggled to find their rhythm, Evans was at one with his pacenotes – delivering a committed drive and climbing two places in the process.
As the event continued, the Welshman climbed another place and remains resolute on recovering his form when the Championship returns to Europe next month.
SS1: 11th (+2.2)
SS2: 8th (+17.2)
SS3: 9th (+19.9)
SS4: 8th (+11.2)
SS5: 2nd (+1.1)
SS6: 6th (+13.6)
SS7: 8th (+16.6)
SS8: 10th (+15.4)
SS9: 9th (+17.4)
SS10: 9th (+16.5)
SS11: 3rd (+16.3)
SS12: 9th (+5.7)
SS13: 9th (+15.0)
SS14: 9th (+14.5)
SS15: 7th (+21.7)
SS16: 7th (+6.6)
SS17: 7th (+14.1)
SS18: 8th (+9.9)
All things considered, sixth place isn’t a bad result and it was good to get some solid points on the board. But the pace just wasn’t there this weekend. It was disappointing and not what we came here to do. We need to do some analysis to try and understand why that was. The engineers will study the data, I’ll study the onboards, and hopefully we can get back on it in Portugal.