Elfyn Evans is up to third in the World Rally Championship standings after a second straight second-place finish and their third of the season.

It wasn’t enough to deny Toyota Gazoo Racing team-mate Kalle Rovanperä at Rally Estonia though, who continued his remarkable 2022 season in the FIA World Rally Championship with his fifth victory from the last six events, leading a one-two finish for Toyota Gazoo Racing W after a high-speed battle with Evans.

After a series of rougher gravel events, the smooth and fast stages of Estonia provided a test for the outright performance of the new generation of Rally1 cars, one the GR Yaris Rally1 Hybrid passed with flying colours by dominating the weekend.

It recorded the fastest time in all 22 full-length stages, beaten only narrowly in the two short super special stages held on Thursday and Saturday evenings.

The weather ensured a challenging weekend from start to finish with short and sharp rain showers making conditions extremely changeable and unpredictable for the drivers.

Evans and co-driver Scott Martin excelled in a mostly dry start to Friday, winning all four stages during the morning to lead Rovanperä, who did well sweeping the loose gravel stages as championship leader and then capitalised on wet weather in the afternoon to move ahead.

He and co-driver Jonne Halttunen were then dominant through Saturday, winning seven stages in a row and continued that form into Sunday morning.

The worst of the weather however was saved for the final two stages.

Both Rovanperä and Evans were more than half a minute slower than some competitors as conditions worsened during SS23 but were able to maintain their overall positions.

They then made the most of improving conditions as the sun came out for their runs at the deciding Power Stage, Rovanperä setting the best time by a huge 22.5 seconds over Evans to claim maximum points for himself and Halttunen, who increase their championship lead to 83 points after seven of 13 rounds.

Evans and Martin have climbed to third in the standings after a second straight second-place finish and their third of the season.

With the Power Stage result, TGR also scored maximum points towards the manufacturers’ championship this weekend and now lead by 87 points.

Evans said: “It’s a bit of a relief to finish the rally after some really difficult conditions in the last couple of stages.

“Today was all about getting through and securing our second place.

“In the Power Stage I didn’t take any risks but it was good to get some points from there as well.

“The biggest positive is another one-two finish for the team which is great.

“From our side it was a step forward especially from where we were last year on this rally.

“Congratulations to Kalle: He was very fast, just as he was last year. I take my hat off to him and we’ll try again next time!”

Rovanperä said: “It’s another amazing result this weekend. Opening the road on Friday morning it was hard to match Elfyn’s pace, but after that we could fight really well.

“The final day was not so easy to manage, it was longer than normal and a big battle with the weather.

“To get such huge rain on the last stages was quite tough, but on the Power Stage I still did a big push.

“I knew that in this weather you can make a difference and I just tried to push a bit while trying to still be a bit safe.

“I was enjoying the driving and the time was clearly good. It’s nice to get this victory before Rally Finland and hopefully we can do a good job there also.”

Next up is Rally Finland (August 4-7) is the fastest rally on the calendar, run over smooth gravel roads containing many jumps. It’s also a home rally for TGR WRT, which has its headquarters close to the service park in Jyväskylä and has won each of the last four editions.