ELFYN Evans will look to build on a top five finish at Rally Chile when he turns his attention to round seven of the FIA World Rally Championship, the Vodafone Rally de Portugal this weekend.

M-Sport Ford World Rally Team driver Evans had the potential to be in the fight for another podium in Chile, with the Welshman and co-driver Scott Martin showcasing some promising speed.

Posting a number of top-three stage times, the pairing were also just 0.7 seconds adrift of the stage win through the challenging conditions of Pelun 2 (SS12).

As the event wore on, Evans, from Dinas Mawddwy, was unable to match the leaders and struggled for confidence and stability in the particularly high-speed sections. Yet despite having to settle for fourth place, Evans delivered a clean and clever drive and secured some good points for his championship campaign.

“It’s been a difficult rally, and there were some places where we struggled for sure. But overall, it hasn’t been too bad,” said the 30 year-old. “We managed to stay out of trouble and had some pretty good pace on Saturday. But we just weren’t 100 per cent confident and couldn’t find the last little pieces we needed to fight for the podium.

“With some big gaps ahead and behind it was all about bringing the car safely home, and achieving fourth place is definitely a good end to a difficult rally.”

Evans had completed a tough opening day at Chile’s inaugural FIA World Rally Championship event, holding seventh place. After a strong start in the slippery conditions, with the third fastest time through the opening speed test, Evans had become locked in an intense battle on day one with fellow Brit Kris Meeke.

It looked as though the Welshman would have the better of the Northern Irishman heading into the afternoon loop - two seconds up on the splits through the second pass of El Puma (SS4).

Evans, however, missed out on the penultimate stage with a lack of confidence in the pacenotes he had made in thick fog during the pre-event reconnaissance, falling adrift of Meek and Sébastien Loeb.

On the second day of competition Evans had set the third fastest time on the opening speed test, taking time out of nine-time World Champion Loeb in the race for the third step of the podium.

As the day wore on the Brits struggled to match the Frenchman on certain sections, but despite falling adrift of the fight at the front, Evans delivered a clean, conscientious drive - proving the pace of the Fiesta; just 0.7 seconds shy of the fastest time through the changeable weather.Having secured second place at last year’s Rally de Portugal, Evans will be looking for a similarly strong performance this year. Having contested the event on seven previous occasions, he has the experience, and will be looking to couple that with the speed that he and co-driver Scott Martin displayed when they last competed in Europe.“Rally de Portugal is one of the classics," said Evans. "Most of the drivers have a lot of experience here, and everyone will be pushing for the top results – ourselves included. The Portuguese fans have a real passion for their motorsport, and everyone wants to do well in front of this crowd.“We’ve always had pretty good speed here, and the whole team have been working hard to ensure that continues. We completed a day and a half of testing last week, and everything feels good."The competition is so close at the moment, but if it all comes together I see no reason why we can’t challenge for another strong result.”Overall Classification at Rally Chile: 1. Ott Tänak / Martin Järveoja (Toyota Yaris WRC) 3:15:53.8; 2. Sébastien Ogier / Julien Ingrassia (Citroen C3 WRC) +23.1; 3. Sébastien Loeb / Daniel Elena (Hyundai i20 Coupe WRC) +30.2; 4. Elfyn Evans / Scott Martin (Ford Fiesta WRC) +1:36.7; 5. Teemu Suninen / Marko Salminen (Ford Fiesta WRC) +3:15.6; 6. Esapekka Lappi / Janne Ferme (Citroen C3 WRC) +3:45.4; 7. Andreas Mikkelsen / Andreas Jaeger (Hyundai i20 Coupe WRC) +4:39.0; 8. Kris Meeke / Sebastian Marshall (Toyota Yaris WRC) +7:33.4; 9. Kalle Rovanperä / Jonne Halttunen (Skoda Fabia R5) +7:52.5; 10. Mads Østberg / Torstein Eriksen (Citroen C3 R5) +8:16.1.