Evans wins in Bologna
Elfyn Evans won the Bettega Memorial Rally at the Bologna Motor Show in Italy at the weekend.
The Welshman won three of the four head-to-head sprint duels with rising young Finnish star Kalle Rovanpera to seal victory in the final of the two-day mixed-surface event. Both were driving Ford Fiesta RS World Rally Cars.
The DMACK driver, who is this week expected to be confirmed for a FIA World Rally Championship programme in 2017, beat strong competition including WRC runner-up Thierry Neuville as he remained unbeaten in the qualifying heats on the purpose-built track.
Paolo Andreucci finished third in a Citroën DS 3 WRC with Neuville fourth in a Hyundai i20 WRC.
Victory at the event, held in memory of Italian driver Attilio Bettega who died in a crash at the 1985 Tour de Corse rally, rounded off an impressive season for Evans. He finished third in WRC 2 and won the British Rally Championship.
“It was a great weekend, I thoroughly enjoyed racing on the track and it’s fantastic to come away with the overall trophy. The tyres from DMACK have been ideal here. It’s actually quite demanding on tyres and we had the perfect strategy all weekend to cope with both the gravel and asphalt sections,” he said.
Neuville beat Evans by 1.3sec to win the supporting Trofeo Pucci Grossi Night Sprint on the opening night. Rovanpera finished third after Andreucci crashed.
