Fowler: ‘We’ll bounce back in Sweden’

Sébastien Ogier lost a thrilling event-long fight in the French Alps to countryman and M-Sport Ford debutant Sébastien Loeb when his hybrid-powered GR Yaris Rally1 punctured in the penultimate stage.

Elfyn Evans fell away from the lead battle after beaching his car on the edge of a steep drop when lying third, leaving Kalle Rovanperä as the second GR Yaris at the finish in fourth.

“That one hurt,” said Fowler. “We were so close in Monte-Carlo – and not just with Séb. When you look at how well Elfyn was driving and the speed he was able to show, we could have been one-two. The result we left that rally with was very different to that.”

Despite departing the principality second to M-Sport Ford in the FIA World Rally Championship manufacturers’ standings, Fowler and his colleagues are determined to fight back at the WRC’s only pure winter fixture in Umeä.

“If you look at the bigger picture, it’s positive,” he said. “We got four cars to the event and they ran well. We were close to the win, but it didn’t happen.

“We take that hurt and use it to drive us forwards for Sweden. When you take a win, it’s easy to go home and think you’re a legend – only for somebody to come back and kill you in the next race.

“We will bounce back for Sweden.”

Fowler will aim to replicate the result Toyota achieved last time the WRC visited Sweden in 2020, when Evans scored his maiden success in a Yaris World Rally Car.