ELFYN Evans and co-driver Daniel Barritt recovered to achieve sixth place at last weekend’s Rallye Monte-Carlo - but the prestigious event could have yielded so much more in the opening round of this year’s FIA World Rally Championship.

Unfortunate to pick up a puncture on the very first stage, the Brits lost more than three minutes to the leading pack, but they refused to lose their focus - following up the disappointment with a resurgent comeback from 16th to sixth.

Two stage victories proved that Evans had the pace to challenge for a podium and, had the final-day conditions been more to his liking, fourth place could have been a distinct possibility, with the Welshman just over 10 seconds shy.

“It’s been a tough edition of the rally this year, we had an especially tough start losing so much time on the very first stage,” said Evans, from Dinas Mawddwy.

“Over the next few days I think we were there or there abouts in terms of out outright speed, but overall there were just too many little errors along the way.

“When it came to making the smart choices at the right time, we weren’t quite there, and that cost us a really good result. The comforting thing is that the speed is there, but we still need to be better.”

Evans’ first split aboard their EcoBoost-powered Ford Fiesta WRC was right on the pace, but unfortunately they picked up a puncture on the opening speed test and were forced to stop and change it, just over 10 kilometres into the stage.

It was a frustrating start, but Evans soon proved his speed to quickly climb the time sheets by setting two fastest times.

Excelling in the difficult conditions, they climbed from 16th to eighth place overall and their tally of stage wins was only bettered by that of their M-Sport teammates Sébastien Ogier and Julien Ingrassia .

Continuing their fight back, Evans and Barritt climbed all the way up to sixth place overall on the second day, despite being disadvantaged by their early running order on the snow-strewn stages.

As the snow cleared, Evans upped his pace with a string of competitive stage times, and not even an intermittent issue with the intercom could slow his speed.

Defending champion Ogier meanwhile made the perfect start to his bid to clinch a sixth drivers’ crown, mastering the elements to claim the victory on home soil.

The M-Sport Ford man began the final day of the season curtain-raiser 33.5 secs ahead of the pursuing Ott Tänak, following a sustained push from his Toyota rival.Ogier immediately quelled any thoughts the Estonian may have had of launching a late bid for glory by going 11.5 secs faster than the Yaris driver on SS14 (La Bollene Vesubie - Peira Cava).

The tone was set, and with Tänak backing off to secure a superb second place on his debut for his new employer, Ogier could pace himself to the finish for a fifth consecutive victory in the Principality.

Tänak was 58.3 secs adrift of frontrunner Ogier but 53.7 secs clear of third-plced Jari-Matti Latvala, who made it a podium double for the Japanese manufacturer.

The Power Stage was dominated by Kris Meeke, who salvaged some consolation for Citroën at the end of a troubled weekend with fourth overall - 2min 51.1 secs behind Latvalaand five additional points.

Meeke’s fourth position had initially looked like going the way of Toyota’s Esapekka Lappi, but the young Finn made a costly mistake on SS17 (La Cabanette - Col de Braus), dropping him behind not only the Ulsterman, but also Thierry Neuville in fifth and Elfyn Evans in sixth.

Neuville was the architect of a remarkable recovery in his Hyundai i20, battling back from opening day misfortune with a determined effort to finish 1.0sec clear of Evans overall and 3.7sec ahead of Lappi..