World Rally Championship: Sebastien Ogier wins final stage to beat Evans to title
- Published
Sebastien Ogier's WRC success with Toyota adds to his wins with Volkswagen and Ford
Sebastien Ogier clinched his seventh World Rally Championship title in eight seasons with victory to deny Toyota team-mate Elfyn Evans a first title.
Welshman Evans, 31, admitted his hopes of becoming world champion looked to be over after he crashed on stage 11 of the final event of the season in Monza.
Ogier took full advantage to win the asphalt fixture by 13.9 seconds to win overall by a margin of eight points.
"I think we have done a good job this season," France's Ogier, 36, said.
Estonia's Ott Tanak, the 2019 champion, finished the stage second, 1.4 seconds ahead of Hyundai team-mate Dani Sordo of Spain.
Ogier overhauled Evans, who had led the overall standings heading into the final stage and who was hoping to become only the third British winner of the World Rally Championship, following Colin McRae in 1995 and Richard Burns in 2001.
Elfyn Evans laments the conditions as a crash all but ends his World Rally chances
Evans was unscathed after his crash on Saturday, but his Toyota sustained heavy damage, with the dent to his title aspirations irreparable for this season. A disappointed Evans restarted on Sunday after his crash and finished 26th.
"We feel sorry for Elfyn. We had great fun fighting each other this season and I am sure next year will be the same," Ogier added.
"It's been a difficult weekend. We feel for Elfyn also today. He made a very strong season, very consistent, and we had really good fun to fight each other. I'm very happy and I feel very privileged."
Evans expressed his disappointment on Saturday after the crash on stage 11 that ended his title hopes.
"We came around a flat right corner with a short braking and the surface of the tarmac had changed," he said.
"When I braked on that, it was just like glass and there was no chance of us slowing down at all. It completely caught me by surprise.
"You have to be there, you have to try. You're not going to win anything by sitting around at the back and I think everybody was having to take some sort of chance.
"I actually had the surface change in my notes, but I didn't anticipate it would be as extreme.
"From my side, I'm really gutted for the team."
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