Difficult weekend but Welsh star cuts the gap at top of World Rally Championship.
Elfyn endured another tough event at Rally Italia Sardegna and, despite not finding the pace to challenge for the win, he came away from the weekend with a solid points haul to close the gap at the top of the FIA World Rally Championship battle.
The rocky, island roads combined with Elfyn’s early position on the road were always going to deliver an arduous challenge and the opening day delivered just that. Picking up a puncture on the very first stage, Elfyn had to navigate the remainder of the opening loop with care and dropped down the order to sixth.
Saturday was a mammoth day with 149km of action, no mid-day service opportunity and only a remote tyre fitting zone to help get cars back into shape for the afternoon action.
Elfyn focused on a clean drive during Saturday and made progress by improving his pace on the wider stages. While other drivers faltered and made mistakes during the tricky day, including championship leader Thierry Neuville, Elfyn’s clever drive was rewarded with fourth place and solid championship points.
He maintained that pace during the final day on Sunday, finishing fourth, collecting more points and ultimately closing the gap to Neuville by six points.
The championship now moves to three high-speed gravel events at Poland, Latvia and Finland, where Elfyn is hoping the change of pace will bring better fortunes.
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