Evans to miss Rally Germany due to back injury
Elfyn Evans will miss Rally Germany later this month while he still recovers from the back injury he sustained at Rally Estonia.
While Motorsport.com understands the M-Sport Ford driver is nearing full fitness, there's concern about the nature of the roads aggravating the injury again.
WRC2 regular Gus Greensmith, who deputised for Evans in last weekend's Rally Finland, will do so again for the Saarbrucken-based event.
M-Sport team principal Richard Millener told Motorsport.com: "Frustrating as it is for us to have a driver of Elfyn's calibre on the bench, we have to respect what the medical expertise. He's getting there, but his back's not quite right.
"As we know, Germany can be quite hard on the back with plenty of high-speed compressions and – in a dry rally – some fair high g-loadings.
"What we don't want to do is bring Elfyn back before he's absolutely ready, only to have him tweak something and set himself back again. Like I said, tough as this decision is, the only option we have is to wait for him to be ready. And when he is, the car's ready for him."
Evans admitted missing last week's Rally Finland was one of the low points of his career.
He told Motorsport.com: "It's very frustrating to be missing rallies at such a critical point in the season, but I need to ensure the injury heals properly.
"As tempting as it would be to just get on with it and come back, the reality is that I need more time so that when I do return, I'm returning at full strength with no compromises.
"I feel me and Scott [Martin, co-driver] had a solid start to the season and I'm doing everything I can to aid the process and be back as soon as possible – to build on what we started during the first half of the season."
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