ELFYN Evans has described his delight at securing an epic victory at last weekend’s Rallye Monte-Carlo, having totally dominated the WRC 2 class at the first round of the FIA World Rally Championship.

The M-Sport driver concluded the overall event in a strong eighth place - proving the extent of the upgrades M-Sport has made with the Ford Fiesta R5 EVO.

The rally did not start as Evans and co-driver Craig Parry would have liked, picking up a puncture on the very first speed test, but it wasn’t long before he had made up that time and more - taking the lead on the fourth stage of the rally.

A second puncture hindered them on Saturday morning (SS9), but come the following stage, the lead was theirs again.

Throughout the course of the weekend, Evans and the Fiesta R5 EVO had been in a class of their own – regularly beating their rivals by 20 or 30 seconds a stage.

“We’ve had a lot of fun this weekend and I’m pleased to have delivered such a strong result for the team,” said the 27 year-old, who is from Dinas Mawddwy.

“It was a big weekend, with the debut of the Fiesta R5 EVO, and I think this result goes to prove the extent of the upgrades.

“I have to say that the car has been fantastic on this event, and it went beyond what we were all hoping for. The progress that the team have made is incredible as well, and I think it underlines the fact that the Fiesta is the best car in the category.”

Evans added: “Of course it wasn’t an easy event for us, Monte-Carlo never is!

“I had a new co-driver, who did a great job all weekend, and a new car. If that wasn’t enough, we also suffered two punctures over the course of the event, which certainly made things interesting!

“Once we had a good lead we backed off the pace to consolidate the win, but I think that we have proven what we are capable of. Now I’m really looking forward to Rally Sweden, where I’m sure that the competition will be tough.”

His two punctures cost him three minutes to the second-placed WRC 2 Skoda Fabia R5, but Evans was still able to finish more than two minutes ahead of Esapekka Lappi - an incredible achievement when considering that he had just one day of testing on full-snow, which was representative of the conditions faced.

Despite backing well off the pace to secure victory through the final stages, Evans has confirmed the Blue Oval’s position at the head of the WRC 2 standings.

The Welshman will next tackle Rally Sweden and is eager for a repeat performance in just under three weeks’ time.