ELFYN Evans secured a podium finish at Rallye Monte-Carlo and picked up some ‘solid points’ in the process despite suffering with a hybrid unit problem.

He finished 29.1seconds behind his Toyota Gazoo Racing team-mate Sébastien Ogier.

Hyundai i20 N star Thierry Neuville celebrated his 20th world rally win on Sunday afternoon, banking a perfect score of 30 points alongside co-driver Martijn Wydaeghe.

Dinas Mawddwy’s Evans said: “We showed that the potential was there to win this weekend but we just missed the feeling on Saturday afternoon for some reason. Today was much better.

“There was a real mix of conditions again but we had to keep pushing to score some more points under the new system and it turned out OK.

“It’s been a solid enough weekend. We always want to win, but above all I really wanted to finish this rally with solid points and we’ve done that. Long term we want to win rallies and we will see what’s possible on the next rally in Sweden.”

Both Ogier and Evans were involved in an exciting fight for victory throughout the event, where drivers faced a challenging mix of conditions on the asphalt roads of the French Alps even if they were generally drier than usual.

Ogier spectacularly claimed the lead during Saturday afternoon when he recorded the 700th stage win of his WRC career, and ultimately went into the final day on Sunday just 3.3 seconds away from first-placed Thierry Neuville (Hyundai).

Despite his best efforts in pursuit of a record-extending victory in Monte Carlo, Ogier and his co-driver Vincent Landais would eventually have to settle for second place, finishing 16.1s behind the winner.

Evans and his co-driver Scott Martin made an excellent start to their season when the rally got underway on Thursday night, claiming an early lead that they held until Saturday morning.

After banking good points under the championship’s new format by ending the penultimate day in third, Evans continued to push hard on Sunday when additional points were on offer for the fastest drivers.

He took second in Sunday’s separate classification, plus fourth in the rally-ending Power Stage, to end the weekend with 21 points and third place in the standings. Ogier, who was second in the Power Stage and third-fastest across Sunday, is second on 24 points.

“I don’t have the words, to be honest,” beamed an elated Neuville after finishing the final stage on the iconic Col de Turini

“It was just so great this weekend, I felt so comfortable in the car.

“The whole team was doing an amazing job and I think the whole package was working really well.

“There are always things to improve so of course we need to continue working, but we are very happy to win this rally,” he added.

• Rally Sweden (February 15-18) is the only full winter event of the season taking place on snow and ice.

Metal studs inserted into the tyres bite into the surface to provide grip and allow for some of the highest speeds of the year.