Eli Evans recorded a comfortable victory in the Rally Australia round of the Australian Rally Championship.
Evans and co-driver Glen Weston won four of the final five stages of the Coffs Harbour event to take the win by a margin of 2 minutes 33.7s over Steve and Brent Mackenzie (Ford Fiesta).
Molly Taylor and Bill Hayes (Renault Clio) kept their championship hopes alive by claiming the final podium position.
After establishing a healthy lead on Saturday, Evans and Weston produced a dominant performance on the day’s opening run through the 21.95km Bucca Long stage.
Evans’ Citroen DS3 was 23.1s clear of nearest challengers Taylor and Hayes with Mackenzie 0.7s back in third.
Victory on the televised Wedding Bells stage further extended the lead before Taylor struck back with a win on the 6.4km Settles Road test.
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Evans ended the rally in a flourish with two more stages wins on the second runs through Bucca Long and Wedding Bells.
It proved to be an emotional win for the Victorian who was quick to praise his crew after his rally hopes were placed in doubt following a heavy crash on Thursday’s Power Stage.
“I’m not usually left lost for words, but today feels very special, quite incredible actually considering that just a few days ago I wasn’t even sure if we’d make the start line,” said Evans.
“I just can’t thank all the boys enough. The team worked around the clock to repair the car, and they put their faith in me to do them proud, so it feels amazing to be able to repay them in this way.”
Victory has further extended Evans’ championship lead over Taylor ahead of the Scouts Rally SA finale held from October 23-25.
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