Sunday | 24 Jan 2016

Evans dominates WRC 2 season opener

Elfyn Evans bounced back from the disappointment of losing his World Rally Car drive at the end of last season to score a convincing victory in the WRC 2 support category at Rallye Monte-Carlo on Sunday afternoon.

The Welshman was the class of the field in M-Sport's upgraded Ford Fiesta R5 to win by 2min 13.1sec from Germany's Armin Kremer. Junior WRC champion Quentin Gilbert made a successful step up to finish third in Citroën's DS 3 R5.

Evans recovered from an opening stage puncture on Thursday night to win seven stages in a row and build a commanding lead. A second puncture allowed Kremer's Skoda Fabia R5 into top spot, but Evans was quickly back in front and eased through today's final leg in the mountains above Monaco.

"I had great fun this weekend and it's fantastic to score a debut win with the new evolution Fiesta after all the hard work that has gone into it," said Evans, who was partnered by new co-driver Craig Parry for the first time.

Kremer also suffered punctures during the four-days of competition in the French Alps but he was untroubled today by Gilbert, who struggled with a lack of power after his engine's water temperature soared last night.

Quentin Giordano finished fourth in a DS 3, despite going off the road under braking on Saturday morning, with the similar car of Yoann Bonato in fifth and Jose Suarez in sixth in a Peugeot 208.

Both Bonato and Suarez won stages, the latter twice setting times in the top six overall.

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