Evan: It’s hard to feel joy, and on the podium you can see that we’re all in the same boat

Photo: Zsolt Bitto

After the WRC Rally Croatia, Elfin Evans admitted that he got “zero pay” for finishing second under the new points system.

The Toyota driver has been one of the most critical of the new points system and after he finished second to team-mate Sebastien Ogier at Rally Croatia, Evans raised the issue again. Evans scored 19 points over the weekend – 15 points for second place on Saturday, three points in the Super Sunday classification and one in the Power Stage. He scored the same points as his title rival Neuville, who finished third. It should be noted that one more point (20) was won by the Estonian Ots Tanaks, who finished fourth overall.

Evan believes that his exciting fight with Neuville (after the 17th lap, i.e. two hours and 16 minutes, only 2.6 seconds separated the two) is not sufficiently rewarded.

“Of course, there was great joy about it [sīvo cīņu ar Noivilu], but in the end, even though we had a mega weekend, it feels like there’s no reward with the new points structure,” Elfin Evans told autosport.com. “Adrien Formo spent 15 minutes changing the steering arm and he has scored 13 points and we have scored 19 points and Ot has 20 points. It’s hard to feel joy, and on the podium it’s clear that we’re all in the same boat.”

The new points system is overseen by the FIA, but according to the governing body’s motorsport director Andrew Wheatley, it is intended to be in place until the end of the season.

“The rules are set every year and if you want to change the points system during the year you have to get unanimous consent from all the registered competitors and that’s incredibly difficult to do,” Andrew Wheatley said on race day on Friday.

Photo: Honza Froněk

This new points system was introduced to make Sundays much more exciting and dynamic, as before it was mostly that on Sundays, when nothing really mattered to the drivers, they did not go full power and only went to the maximum in the Power Stage dope to compete for extra points.

“The intention of the points system is to allow it to run throughout the year and we’re constantly monitoring it to understand what the implications are and what the opportunities are. I don’t think we have a driver who is now at the end of Sunday saying he’s just going for it,” Wheatley continues. .It should be noted that if before on Sundays you could earn extra five points for winning the Power Stage, now you can earn an extra 12 points by having a perfect Sunday (showing only the fastest time on Sunday and winning the Power Stage).

“What the new points system has done so far is achieve its goal [uzlabot darbību svētdienās]however, we have both ends of the spectrum and we need to see if we are still hitting the target mid-season or end-of-season,” concludes Wheatley.

Rally results:

Croatian WRC Points Scored:

Overall rating:

2024-04-22 20:16:26
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