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Ravanpera beat Evans and won the third straight WRC

The Toyota driver won the first gravel rally of the new hybrid era Rally1 by 15.2 seconds after a brief call from teammate Elfin Evans.

Ravanpera recorded a victory in style, winning the final stage over the weekend, where the WRC celebrated its 50th season.

Hyundai’s Dani Sorda took last place on the podium after a tense battle with Toyota’s Takamoto Katsuta, which lasted until the final stage where the Spaniard defeated his opponent.

The pair rode smartly and joined the Rally1 race quartet to avoid problems for four days.

The rally belonged to 21-year-old Ravanper, who created another flawless drive, and this latest victory is perhaps the most significant to date, given the flaw that was supposed to act as a sweeper in the dusty stages on Friday.

While several of his opponents suffered punctures and misfortunes in the difficult gravel stages, Ravanpera remained intact, winning two stages and moving away from Evans by 13.6 seconds.

The pair of Toyota battled for first place until Saturday, and Evans extended their lead to 18.4 seconds before Ravanpera took a pair of stage wins to take the lead in stage 15 when it rained heavily.

Ravanpera managed to turn a 9.9-second deficit into a 4-second lead, adding even more brilliance to the final day of the Super Special.

On Sunday with an advantage of 5.7 seconds. Ravanpera achieved the fifth victory in his WRC careerclaiming five bonus points to increase the championship advantage to 46 points over Thierry Neville from Hyundai.

The first podium of the season for Evans came after twice leading the rally, which was his best drive of the season to date.

Evans led the rally on Friday morning after Neville, who won Thursday’s super special start.

Sebastian Loeb, Isabel Holmish, M-Sport Ford World Rally Team Ford Puma Rally1

Photo: M-Sport

The Welshman then lost the lead in stage 4 to Sebastian Loeb of M-Sport, who sensationally jumped from seventh place in the overall standings to the lead with a victory in the stage.

However, Loeb made a rare mistake of the driver, slipping into the wall on stage 5, which led to the final damage of the nine-time world champion Ford Puma, which forced the Frenchman to resign.

Loeb briefly returned to the clash on Saturday before the loss of power completely took him out of the rally.

Second-time world champion Sebastian Auger rose to third place after Loeb retired before becoming one of the victims of severe trials.

The Toyota driver received two punctures in stages in a row, forcing the eight-time world champion to retire after deciding to drive only one spare wheel.

Auger retired on Saturday when he retired in the 11th stage after being distracted by the dashboard after a hybrid problem on his GR Yaris. The Frenchman returned on Sunday to take part in the last five stages.

Neville was also in the group of drivers who witnessed an accidental fall on the podium, as the Belgian remained content with fifth place after the failure of the propeller shaft on Friday afternoon deprived him of second place.

Hyundai teammate Ot Tanak recovered in sixth place after a double puncture on Friday dropped the 2019 world champion from fourth to 10th place.

Pierre-Louis Lube became Ford’s best M-Sport driver in seventh place, although the Frenchman was fourth before a wild holiday on Friday night.

Craig Brin finished the tough rally in eighth place after losing time for a puncture on Friday, followed by bad tires on Saturday and a brake problem on Sunday.

Adrien Furmo was ninth, losing three minutes due to a puncture on Saturday, while his M-Sport teammate Gus Greensmith also suffered from tire problems before returning to the rally on Sunday after suspension damage brought out its out of order on saturday.

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