World Rally Championship title contender Elfyn Evans has been handed a five-second penalty after making contact with a hay bale during the opening stage of the Central European Rally.
Evans, co-driven by Scott Martin, clouted a hay bale that formed part of a chicane during the first pass through the 12.83km Golf und Therme test that kicked off the 18-stage asphalt round of the championship on Thursday afternoon.
The Welshman, sitting two points behind championship leader and Toyota team-mate Sebastien Ogier, said the incident was unintentional. At a stewards hearing he explained “that he experienced unexpected understeer due to a lower level of grip than anticipated” and “applied full steering lock in an attempt to follow the correct route and avoid contact with the chicane, significantly reducing his speed in the process.”
Toyota‘s sporting director Kai Lindstrom provided analysis claiming that Evans gained no advantage by hitting the hay bale claiming that his driver “lost approximately 1.3s in the sector containing the chicane adding that the car’s approach speed was even slightly lower than that of other competitors”.
The stewards agreed that the deviation from the defined roadway was unintentional and caused no advantage to the crew.
However, Articles 19.2 of the 2025 FIA World Rally Championship Sporting Regulations and 12.16.1 of the 2025 Central European Rally Supplementary Regulations both clearly state that any deviation from the defined roadway and any failure to pass a chicane in the correct manner constitute an infringement and will be reported to the stewards.
After taking into account comparable precedents and the circumstances of the incident, the stewards deemed a five-second penalty was appropriate.
Following the application of the penalty, Evans has dropped from sixth to eighth overall and will start Friday’s stages 11.0s behind rally leader Ogier.
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