DOLGELLAU driver Elfyn Evans suffered a disappointing end to the weekend’s Acropolis Rally Greece after engine problems forced him to retire as he was chasing a place on the podium.

In its second running since returning to the FIA World Rally Championship calendar, the Acropolis lived up to its reputation with slippery and rocky roads and high temperatures providing a considerable challenge.

Thierry Neuville secured victory on Sunday afternoon - fronting a historic Hyundai i20 N 1-2-3 finish.

The Belgian driver seized the top spot early on Saturday after nine-time world champion Sébastien Loeb retired with alternator failure. From that moment onwards he never looked back.

Neuville’s Hyundai squad emerged from the penultimate day unscathed while several frontrunners hit trouble.

He carried an advantage of almost half a minute over team-mate Ott Tänak into Sunday’s three-stage finale with Dani Sordo completing the podium lockout in third.

Tänak brought back 2.9sec on the first pass through Elefthori, but any hopes of the Estonian putting more pressure on his colleague were quashed as team orders came into play.

For much of the weekend, Elfyn’s Toyota Gazoo Racing World Rally Team was in contention for a podium position but those hopes ended early on the final morning when Evans had to retire from fourth place after an engine-related issue on the road section to SS14.

With this, the team’s focus moved to the rally-ending Power Stage.

Here, Kalle Rovanperä managed to set the second-fastest time to claim four bonus points.

The championship leader experienced a trying weekend after sweeping the loose gravel roads on Friday before losing around 15 minutes on Saturday morning after damaging his car.

However, his Power Stage drive ensured he still leads the drivers’ championship by 53 points with three rounds remaining.

Esapekka Lappi was running in second place on Saturday before he was slowed and forced to stop by a technical issue.

Restarting on Sunday, he set the fifth-best time on the Power Stage.

With the points scored by Rovanperä and Lappi for reaching the finish combined with those they claimed on the Power Stage, the team remains in the lead of the manufacturers’ championship by 63 points.

Evans said: “We started this morning in a nice position after a tough weekend, back in contention for the podium and we were looking forward to that fight.

“Unfortunately on the road section we had an issue with the engine which developed as we got closer to the stage and with no easy fix we had to retire the car.

“It’s obviously a disappointing end to a weekend where we struggled overall, especially in the looser conditions at the start of the rally, so we have areas to work on there.

“We did manage to make progress during the weekend which was one positive, and now we look forward to a new challenge in New Zealand.”

The WRC heads to Rally New Zealand (29 September 2 October ) for the first time in 10 years.

The smooth gravel roads around the capital city Auckland on the country’s North Island are hugely popular with drivers for their fast and flowing nature and considerable camber changes.