ELFYN Evans’ M-Sport Ford World Rally Team’s EcoBoost-powered Ford Fiesta WRC had the pace to challenge for a top result at Rally de Portugal, but had to settle for fifth place in the end.

Evans, from Dinas Mawddwy, looked to be on top form and challenging for the podium, before a loose connector caused him to fall from the fight on Friday (SS5).

Stopping mid-stage to locate and rectify the issue, the Welshman’s mechanical skills meant he was able to continue, but he lost more than four minutes.Forced to open the road throughout the remainder of the event, Evans and co-driver Scott Martin had no chance of making an impact on the timesheets – but kept out of trouble to ensure the Fiesta finished inside the top-five.

“We made a pretty good start to the weekend," said the 30 year-old. "It wasn’t perfect, but the pace was there. Obviously it was a shame to lose as much time as we did with the issue on Friday, but these things happen in rallying.

"There wasn’t much more we could do after that, and in all fairness fifth place is a lot more than we could have hoped for on Friday evening.”

Meanwhile Northern Ireland’s Kris Meeke crashed out of third place on the final stage of Rally Portugal.

Meeke spun out of second on the penultimate run before breaking the suspension on his Yaris on the Power Stage. His Toyota team-mate Ott Tanak won the rally by 15.9 seconds over Hyundai’s Thierry Neuville.

Five-time WRC champion Sebastien Ogier was promoted to third after Meeke’s incident, albeit 57 seconds off Tanak. The M-Sport duo of Teemu Suninen and Evans completed the top five, but England’s Gus Greensmith crashed out on his WRC debut.

M-Sport Team Principal, Richard Millener, said: “At the end of the day it’s a good result from what’s been a disappointing weekend. We definitely had the pace to be on the podium."Elfyn and Teemu were driving really well and were both in the fight for the top positions. But after both cars hit trouble, there wasn’t really much we could do.

“Everyone knows how difficult it is opening the road in these loose conditions, and it was just unfortunate that that task belonged to us this weekend. Having said that, both drivers kept their heads down and made it through to claim a decent haul of points.”

Overall classification at Rally de Portugal: 1. Ott Tänak / Martin Järveoja (Toyota Yaris WRC) 3:20:22.8; 2. Thierry Neuville / Nicolas Gilsoul (Hyundai i20 Coupe WRC) +15.9; 3. Sébastien Ogier / Julien Ingrassia (Citroen C3 WRC) +57.1; 4. Teemu Suninen / Marko Salminen (Ford Fiesta WRC) +2:41.5; 5. Elfyn Evans / Scott Martin (Ford Fiesta WRC) +7:08.3.