DOLGELLAU driver Elfyn Evans enjoyed a strong weekend at Ypres Rally Belgium while admitting that you can never be completely happy to finish second.

Toyota Gazoo Racing’ Evans finished just five seconds behind rally winner Ott Tänak (Hyundai i20 N Rally1 Hybrid) with Esapekka Lappi completing a double podium finish for TGR in third place.

In their second time hosting a round of the FIA World Rally Championship, the farmland roads of the West Flanders region again lived up to their historic reputation as one of rallying’s most demanding asphalt tests with frequent surface changes and little margin for error.

Toyota’s Kalle Rovanperä was one of many drivers to be caught out when he rolled on Friday morning’s second stage: a first significant setback in what has been an outstanding season so far from the young Finn.

An extensive rebuild of his car by the team’s technicians allowed Rovanperä and co-driver Jonne Halttunen to return under restart rules the next day and target points in the rally-ending Power Stage over the famous cobbled climb of the Kemmelberg.

There they set the fastest time to leave Belgium with their championship lead still a commanding one at 72 points with four rounds remaining.

Evans and his co-driver Scott Martin took over the lead when Rovanperä dropped out, but a slow puncture that compromised their tyre strategy and a 10-second penalty for arriving late to one stage meant they ended Friday third overall and 13.7 seconds from the lead.

Having fought back on Saturday and gained second overall, Evans continued to close the gap to the leader Ott Tänak with two stage wins on the final morning, but just fell short in the end.

Lappi and co-driver Janne Ferm scored their third podium from six starts and second in as many weeks with a superbly consistent and clean weekend on a rally where their only previous experience came eight years ago, having already had top-four pace from the start. The result ensures TGR still has a strong lead of 88 points in the manufacturers’ championship.

Evans, who is currently third in the championship 15 points behind Tänak, said: “You can never be completely happy to finish second but it’s been a strong weekend overall.

“There were just a few unfortunate things that cost us some time here and there, but that’s rallying and it’s part of the game.

“The car has been good and it was nice to be in the fight from the beginning of the rally.

“We made some good steps for the final day with the setup and I feel really comfortable with where we’ve ended up at the end of the rally.

“Today we tried to keep the pressure on Ott, and we knew it was a bit of a tall order with the limited kilometres we had left but we clawed back some time; as we expected it just wasn’t quite enough.”

Up next is the Acropolis Rally in Greece (8-11 September).

The event returned to the WRC calendar in 2021 after eight years away, with its legendary reputation for rocky mountain roads and high temperatures which combine to create a tough challenge for cars, tyres and drivers alike.