Gus Greensmith, Eric Camilli and Hayden Paddon are all being considered by M-Sport Ford to replace Elfyn Evans on Rally Germany after the Welshman revealed he will sit out of the event.
Evans, who suffered a heavy landing on Rally Estonia in July during the FIA World Rally Championship’s summer break, missed Rally Finland last weekend and he will now also miss the tenth round of the season as his injury has not yet fully healed.
Speaking on Twitter, Evans said: “Sad to say I won’t be competing at Rally Germany. It’s really frustrating to be missing rallies at a critical point in the season, but I need to listen to the experts and make sure the injury is fully healed – so that when I do come back, I’m at full strength with no compromises”
“I feel Scott (Martin) and I have had a solid start to the season, and I’m doing everything I can to aid the process and be back behind the wheel as soon as possible.”
This leaves the Cumbrian team with a dilemma of who to drive alongside Teemu Suninen on the tarmac event, with three drivers all being considered.
Gus Greensmith took the seat last time out in place of Evans but has only entered two events in a top-level WRC Fiesta, while Eric Camilli drove the new R5 MK8 Fiesta in Finland and is an asphalt specialist having taken the WRC2 class win in 2017.
The third driver in line for a possible call up is Hayden Paddon – the New Zealand driver was set to make his WRC return with the team in Finland, but a huge testing accident just days before the event left his car too badly damaged to be repaired and he missed the event as a result.
Paddon also has a strong record on the German event, after taking fifth for Hyundai back in 2016.
The tenth round of the 2019 FIA World Rally Championship, Rally Germany, takes place between August 22-25.
